


The Right Person

by Kufikiria



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: (Near) Future, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Missing Scenes, Mutual Pining, One Shot Collection, Pre-Relationship, Romance, all sorts of things, canon divergences, season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-04-13 18:58:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 46,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14118801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kufikiria/pseuds/Kufikiria
Summary: A collection of Peraltiago fanfics too short to be posted on their own. Includes stories about the ongoing season, canon divergences, their future together, a lot of fluff, a bit of angst, etc.(Previously titled "He Makes Me Laugh.")





	1. I Talked to Your Dad, Go Pick Out a White Dress

**Author's Note:**

> I realised I post a lot of short one-shots that don't necessarily deserve to be posted on their own on here, especially when most of them are about this current season of B99, so from now on I'll just gather them all here :)
> 
> (The first one has been written a few months ago and posted on Tumblr at the time.)

It's late in a Fall afternoon when Victor Santiago listens to his voice mailbox.

He's been out without his phone the whole day, and is rather surprised when he sees the missed phone call appear on his screen. Rather worried as well, when he reads the sender's name.

_Jake Peralta_ , his only daughter's boyfriend.

He's never called him before, let alone left a voicemail, which startles him that he did so that day. A rush of panic starts coursing through his veins as he presses the button to listen to what the other man had to say then, afraid it's something serious.

Afraid something might have happened to one of the two most important women of his life.

How shocked he is finally, when Jake's recorded voice starts talking through the other end of the line, letting him know of the news -

_Mr. Santiago, I'm calling you to inform you that I plan to ask your daughter to marry me, but…_

He listens to the whole thing in religious silence, his heart aching a little at the thought of Amy, _his_ Amy, his little tiger who was still just a baby not so long ago (many years ago), on the verge of getting married. In the end he can't help but smile too, though – it's true he didn't think Jake would make a good boyfriend for her at first, but it seems like he is, now.

And even if he's not perfect… the most important is that he loves her really, very much. That he could tell from the first time they met, without any doubt.

Just like he can tell his daughter does love him too, he knows that for sure – recalls desperate phone calls in the middle of the night after the detective was found out guilty, then joyful ones when he got out of jail.

( _I miss him, Dad,_ she'd say through hurtful cries.

_He's back, Dad,_ she'd say through happy tears.)

“Care to share what's making you smile so brightly?” a voice startles him out of his thoughts, and when he turns in its direction, leaving his gaze away from his phone he's been holding in his hand the whole time after Jake stopped rambling inside, he finds his own wife staring at him with an amused, but questioning, look in her eyes.

He's still grining when he answers her, before putting the voicemail on repeat for her to hear by herself what he means, “I think our daughter finally found _the one_.”

She cries of happy tears in response to the perfection of her son-in-law-to-be's speech.

(Later, when Jake finally proposed and Amy calls her parents to let them know about the great news, excitation easily recognisable in her voice as she's telling him that _Jake and I are getting married!_ , he asks to have a word with him after congratulating her. All the fear he's started feeling when his fiancée gave him the phone, not knowing what her father wants from him, is replaced by his heart simply melting out of happiness when the older man only tells him, meaning every word of it:

“Welcome to the family… son.”)


	2. This Is My Love Song to You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-5x13. Jake and Amy and Doug Judy's wedding gift.

When Amy comes back from work that day, Jake’s already home, sitting on the couch with something in his hands, in deep contemplation.

“Hi babe,” he greets her with a smile, looking up at her as he hears the door opening. She comes sit next to him and lightly kisses him hello before her attention is suddenly drawn away from him and onto the coffee table in front of them. “What’s that?” she frowns, pointing at the Le Creuset pot laid there.

“Doug Judy’s wedding gift,” he explains. “He left it with the diamonds and a CD he made for us,” he shows her what he was holding and staring at before she arrived.

She takes the bigger present to better look at it, excitation visible in her shiny orbs. “Oh my God, is that the pot we wanted?!” Amy squeals.

Quickly though, her expression changes as she calms down and regains some composure, putting a hand on the other detective’s shoulder. “I mean… I’m sorry he played you and run away again.”

It’s only the fifth time Judy’s doing it to him – and she knows how much of a bummer it can be for Jake, then.

Weirdly enough though, he doesn’t seem too desperate about the criminal getting away this time, since he simply smiles back at her. “That’s okay,” he reassures her, before adding with a grin, “Wanna listen to the soundtrack he made for us?”

“Mmhmm,” Amy agrees with a nod, excitedly standing up to go search for her laptop, and putting the CD inside as soon as she’s back next to her future husband.

“Look,” Jake lets out a gasp, “There’s even one song with our names!” He shows the woman the file called ‘Jake & Amy’ and she clicks on it, curious.

Immediately a slow piano music fills the apartment, and then a few seconds later Judy’s recognisable voice starts speaking in a low tone.

_We’re here to celebrate the most lovable couple…_ , he begins with a small speech, before he switches to singing.

_Jake and Amy…_

_Amy and Jake…_

At first, they listen to it still sitting on the couch, concentrating on the lyrics Doug invented for them, exchanging some knowing and amused glances from time to time as they go, until Jake, getting into it, suddenly stands up and offers his love a hand. “M’lady, shall we?” he playfully invites her to join her in a dance, and she obliges with pleasure.

They move around in shared rhythm, holding each other close, Amy’s head lovingly resting over Jake’s heart. As they slow dance together, they can’t help but think about how in less than two months now, they’ll be united as husband and wife and engage in their opening dance  _for realz_.

They still have a lot to take care of course, but the deadline is getting closer and closer with each new passing day, and they simply can’t wait for May 15th to arrive, already knowing it’ll be the best day of their lives.

They stop when the song does, but keep their embrace still. The female detective looks up to meet with her fiancé’s gaze, and smiles at him.

“I can’t wait to marry you,” she confesses.

“I can’t wait to marry you too,” he replies with a warming beam of his own, and leans over to meet her in a tender kiss, but they’re interrupted before their lips can even brush, Judy’s voice startling them apart, humming in a sexier tone this time.

_And now, a bonus song, made especially for your wedding night. Quick suggestion: if you’re thinking about making the family grow already, Doug and Judy are both perfect baby’s names either it is for a boy or a girl – just sayin’._

“Gross,” the couple reacts in a same way while they share a disgusted look, both wincing at what the recorded voice just said.

But, within a few seconds of listening to the song following the man’s speech, their expression start changing, softening little by little as they remain into each other’s arms and stare at one another with a new fire in their brown eyes.

“Is it weird if I say it’s kinda turning me on indeed?” Jake acknowledges after a while, breaking the silence between them, and Amy shakes her head.

“Yep, but it doesn’t matter, because me too. Let’s go,” she answers, suddenly taking his hand in hers and not leaving him the chance to react in any way when she leads him towards their bedroom, abandoning the living-room where Doug Judy’s CD is still playing in the background.


	3. You and I Were Meant to Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2x17 Canon divergence, based off a post by @jess1999mess on Tumblr: 'so like idk if this already exists…but an au where jenny gildenhorn was still available in boyle-linetti wedding when jake got back and yet he still chooses to dance with amy anyways'.

Expectation and reality are two very different things.

Jake understands that as he watches both his friends’ parents being married by his Captain, with his very first love sat on his right side, just like he wanted it to be. Despite his little ‘let’s catch a bay guy’ interlude with Amy before the ceremony started, everything between him and Jenny has been happening as he wished them to.

And yet, he’s not as thrilled as he thought he would be, reuniting with the woman he saw for long as the love of his life.

He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. He should be happy right now – given the course of the events, he’s more than likely going to have his slow dance with her at last. But still, when Raymond Holt starts talking about love and marriage and what all of this means, it’s not her he looks at or think of.

On the contrary, his gaze discreetly drifts away from the main couple of the day to the opposite row of seats, quickly glancing at his partner there, who doesn’t see him, with her whole attention concentrated on their boss’s beautiful speech.

They had a lot of fun today, working together again to chase a perp and then find back the lost wedding ring. It’s been a while they haven’t been that close, with all those stories of ‘I like you and then me too but you don’t like me anymore’ between them. He’s glad they’re starting to regain the bond they had before all of this started.

As he watches her, his heart tightens in his chest, and a feeling he knows all too well takes over.

The same feeling that made him turn off the proposal of a relief team replacing them on their mission the night she lost their bet and they found themselves stuck on a rooftop. The same feeling that lingered during his whole undercover mission until after he came back to see her still in a relationship with her last boyfriend.

The feeling of _he still likes her_.

Suddenly, Jenny takes him out of his reverie by putting her hand on his tight, gently squeezing it, and he looks back at her. A bright smile appears on her features the moment their gazes meet, and he tries to offer her the same in return, but it barely reaches his eyes. He looks down at her palm on his knee, and stares at it for a while.

He has to admit then, there’s no sparks anymore. The woman’s touch does nothing on him. They’ve both grown into different persons, with different interests.

He should have seen that coming. It’s been more than 20 years after all since she dumped him for that Eddie Fung at his bar-mitzvah.

He didn’t think so, but it appears he’s moved on from her. A long time ago. When he fell for one Amy Santiago…

Eventually the ceremony ends, and everyone is invited to join another room to celebrate the newly weds properly, and even though all he wants to do is to spend some time with his squad (with _her_ ), Jake stays with Jenny, because he’s still the only person she knows and though he doesn’t like her like _that_ anymore, she’s a good person.

Who doesn’t deserve being left alone.

Soon enough though, after talking with other guests, it looks like she starts getting along with some of them, and while she’s deep in a conversation with a man they just met, talking about their similar jobs and other things the detective barely pays attention to, he finally finds an excuse to escape her company.

It doesn’t take him long to spot Amy in the crowd, sitting alone at a table, watching Charles and his father dance together to _Kokomo_ with an amused smile on her face.

“Champagne?” he approaches her, taking a seat next to her and handing her a glass of the alcohol.

She frowns a little when she recognises him, clearly not expecting him here. She still accepts the drink.

“Where’s Jenny?” she asks after taking a sip of the sparkling beverage.

“Over there,” he points to where the woman is still chatting with her new friend. “Having fun?” he quickly changes topics though, not wanting to talk about her anymore.

Especially not with Amy.

Thankfully the other detective doesn’t ask more questions. “Yeah, Charles finally managed to convince the DJ to put on his CDs,” she nods in the direction of the man swaying his hips on the dancefloor. “He’s unstoppable since,” she lets out a chuckle, and Jake laughs along with her.

For a while they remain like this, watching their colleague move in silence and gently mocking him along the way, until the song stops, soon replaced by a slower music.

“What are you waiting for?” Amy presses him then, taking the floor again when she sees that he’s staying next to her and doesn’t seem to go and join the woman he hasn’t stopped talking of sharing a slow dance with since the day before. “Isn’t this the signal for your big moment with Jenny?!”

Jake swallows, lowering his gaze in embarrassment before putting it back on his friend. “Yeah, about that…” he starts, but doesn’t quite know how to tell her the truth.

_I wanna dance with_ you _._

“I’m not as much into her anymore as I thought I would be,” he eventually explains, shrugging as he speaks. “I mean, we were only teenagers when I was in love with her. We’ve changed a lot since. Things happened…”

_You_ happened, particularly, he thinks – but of course he doesn’t tell her that.

“Oh,” Amy’s reaction is quite simple, but his partner swears he spots something switch in her orbs as she learns about his change of hearts. She remains silent for a few seconds, as if lost deep in her thoughts, but then she eventually speaks again, smiling at him playfully.

“Well, if you still wanna slow dance with someone, I know somebody who’d be into that…” she offers, and the same beam she’s wearing soon lights up his features too.

“Okay,” he nods, and stands up, offering her his hand for her to take to join the dancefloor, where a few couples are already gathering around there.

(As he gets to hold her close to his chest while they move around in shared rhythm and loving looks, Jake can’t help but think that _this_ is his dream slow dance finally.)


	4. High on You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little something inspired by an episode of Parks and Recreation, the one where Ben is on morphine at the hospital. Canon-compliant, set in a near future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh idk what this is but it was kinda cute in my head so I decided to write it haha. Hopefully you'll like it :)

“Ames, you’re here!” Jake exclaims when the woman enters his hospital room, looking at her with a huge grin on his face, apparently thrilled to see her there.

She smiles back at him, letting out a small sigh now that she know that he’s _indeed_ in one piece and apparently not suffering too much, no matter how many times her colleagues and doctors told her that already. She needed to see it for herself to completely believe it and stop worrying too much.

She goes straight to his bed, not bothering answering anything, and sits on a chair next to him.

“Hi, beautiful,” the detective immediately takes Amy’s hand in his once she’s all settled, never removing his gaze from her, watching her with pure bliss in his eyes.

“Hi,” she finally greets him too in a soft voice. “I came as soon as I heard. How’re you feeling?” she asks, gently squeezing their fingers together.

She’s got a call, about half an hour earlier, from Rosa telling her not to panic, ‘but Jake is in the hospital.’ Of course, despite such a warning, she _did_ panic – for all she knew, the man was out on a case after all, and the image of him hurt by a bullet some criminal would have shot him with immediately took over her mind at her friend’s words.

Turns out though, he simply missed a step on their way out of the building they were chasing their perp in, and fell down a few stairs.

Nothing too serious thankfully, but still bad enough for the two cops to have to make a detour at the hospital.

“Great,” Jake takes her back from her reverie with his answer, his beam still on his features – never disappearing. “I have the most beautiful woman here with me, so nothing could ever be better. Seriously Ames, you’re _gorgeous_.”

She can’t help but let out a chuckle and roll her eyes at that explanation that seems to make a lot of sense to him – though a small blush colour her cheeks as well at the compliment. The doctors told her, before she came inside, that they had to put him on morphine to help ease the pain – hence his reactions a little bit over-excited.

“You know what, we should just do it,” he adds after a short moment of silence, in a very serious tone this time, his grin all gone as he watches her in a deep stare. “We should get married right now.”

The woman looks startled by such a suggestion. “What?!” she exclaims.

“We should get married _right now_ ,” Jake repeats his last sentence before he starts ranting. “I love you, and you love me, so why wait? We can ask Captain Holt to come and marry us, and borrow some flowers and two rings from another room or whatever.”

“Babe…” Amy trails off in response, both a little worried and amused at the same time. _It’s just the meds_ , she reminds herself. “We got married a month ago,” she tells him, and his mouth suddenly drops open in shock.

She takes their intertwined hands and puts them in front of his face then, showing him the sparkling silver rings on both their fingers.

His eyes begin to water as he watches them in pure awe. “We… we got married?” he hardly believes it. “It must have been so beautiful,” he dreamily says, lost in his thoughts, then looks up at her with actual happy, full of emotions tears in his brown eyes now. “ _You_ ’re so beautiful,” he lets her know once more. “And you’re… _my wife_ ,” his grin is fully back when he lets out the last words.

The way he looks at her makes Amy laugh, while her heart warms up in her chest. “Yes. And you're my husband,” she eventually answers him, letting her palm rest on his cheek and smiling tenderly at him with true love for the man in her eyes.

(Later, when Jake’s feeling better and they’re back home, lying in their _own_ bed all curled-up against one another, she can’t help but tease him about what happened at the hospital. “I can’t believe for a moment there you forgot we got married,” she shakes her head in gentle mockery, reminiscence of the day taking over her brain.

“That was just an excuse to marry you all over again,” the detective explains himself with a chuckle, then brings Amy closer in his embrace to press a soft kiss on her lips.)


	5. So Happy When I'm Witcha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the "wedding vows rap" talk in 5x14. 100% domestic fluff.

“Why are you up so early?”

Jake is in the shower when Amy suddenly opens the curtains and appears in front of him, startling him.

There’s suspicion in her voice and a frown on her face when she asks her question, and his first instinct is to cover himself up – which is a pretty stupid reflex, in hindsight, given how many times his _fiancée_ has seen him naked already.

(Last night, for the latest.)

(In that same shower only a few days ago, even.)

“Why _aren’t_ you up so early?” he retorts without truly thinking, still a little puzzled to see her there.

He was sure she was deeply asleep, when he woke up – she didn’t even flinch when he first put the lights on his side of the bed on and started to write some things on his notebook, or later when he pressed a kiss on her temple before he left her side to gain the bathroom.

“Because it’s our day off,” Amy reminds him. “Which means we normally don’t have to wake up. But I heard you talking to yourself and I did.”

It sounds like she's reprimanding him.

“I wasn’t talking to myself,” Jake feels obliged to correct her. Then, in a much more muttered, almost inaudible tone, he adds, “I was rapping.”

Unfortunately for him, the woman still catches his words. “Rapping what?”

She seems genuinely curious now, as if him rapping is something a lot stranger and worth her attention than talking to himself could be.

“Nothing,” the other quickly answers, shaking his head and looking away as he speaks, and Amy studies him in silence for a while – she could swear there’s something he’s not telling her there.

“Okay, weirdo.” She eventually gives up on trying to understand.

Jake lets out a sigh, relieved she decided not to pry more into this. Because it’s not like he could reveal he was rapping his _wedding vows_ to hear how it sounded after inspiration stroke him in his sleep earlier and he suddenly felt the urge to write them down somewhere…

It would ruin the whole thing if he did.

(Even _he_ managed to repress his want to check when he spotted a document called ‘Wedding vows – Outline' on the files of her computer the other day, after all.)

For a short moment they remain quiet after that, standing still in the middle of their bathroom, until something catches Jake’s attention, and a small smile spreads across his features. “Hey, that’s my shirt!” he points to the only piece of clothes his fiancée is wearing, having put on the first thing that came to her hand after the man’s voice startled her up and she went straight to see what he was doing, a little upset she wasn’t waking up with him by her side when they had all morning before them, in all honesty.

She looks down at the oversized grey shirt covering her, and lets out a chuckle when she puts her gaze back on the detective.

“You’re marrying me, remember? So technically everything that’s yours is now mine too,” she playfully tells him, a grin of her own lighting up her face and matching his.

But then, soon enough her look switches from teasing to something more serious and quite _seductive_ , her eyes scanning Jake up and down as if she’s only realising now how _very naked_ her fiancé is in front of her, with droplets of water falling down his chest. She bites at her lower lip, pensive, before she locks her gaze back on his. “But I guess you can take it back if you really want…” she trails off.

“Oh, I will,” he doesn't need more words to nod in agreement, his own look turned darker now, then without a warning he takes a step out of the shower and towards her to grab her by the waist and pull her closer to him, making her laugh (and slightly complain, too – only for the form) (and a sound soon muffled out by his kiss) when he wets her on his way.

 


	6. You Are My Treasure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy's bachelor/ette parties collide.
> 
> Spoilers 5x19, based off the press release and promotional pictures we got of that episode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we talk about the cuteness of that one pic – I'm sure you know which one I'm referring to – we got yesterday? From the start I was looking forward to the bachelor/ette parties, and now I know I was right to think it would be amazing.
> 
> Anyways, this is just a little thing 100% fluff and nothing else, of those two cuties being in love and closer than ever to getting married. Inspired by a post by @ohpineapple on Tumblr.

She’s the first thing he lays his eyes on when he enters the bar, like a beacon of light in the middle of the pretty dark room, in contrast with the sun still shining outside.

When the last clue the scavenger hunt Charles organised for his bachelor party lead him and the rest of his male friends to Shaw’s, Jake first thought he had been wrong somewhere, and missed something. After all, this was where Amy was having her own bachelorette party with the ladies of the Nine-Nine and her best friend Kylie.

So why would they end up there too when the room was already occupied – by his _fiancée_ , of all people?

Wasn’t the whole point of bachelor/ette parties to have the future groom and bride have one last celebration without their other half?

(Not that Jake would mind sharing his with her, though. It’s always more fun, when Amy’s by his side and enjoying a party with him and the rest of their friends.)

But then he turned to the older detective, and he saw the big, bright smile on his face, barely able to contain his excitation as he was waiting for his reaction to come, and he finally understood.

This was the man’s plan all along – to reunite the two lovers at the end of the game for a night of celebrating all together.

Jake smiled back at his best man – best _friend_ –, moved by the lovely thought. No doubt, he had always known how to make him happy.

He didn’t waste any more second and pushed the door that separated him from the love of his life, soon followed by the others, and was met with the sight of Amy in the middle of a cheering, very drunk crowd. All of this happened a few seconds ago, and he hasn’t moved since, stuck in his admiration of the woman in front of him.

She, on the other hand, hasn’t seen nor heard him arrive yet. She’s too busy and concentrated in whatever game she’s playing right now to notice anything else happening around her.

(She’s probably winning, judging by the way she raises her hands and makes loud noises of victory.)

His fiancé lets out an amused chuckle watching her, before someone comes and takes him out of his contemplation, patting him on the shoulder. He slowly, reluctantly turns his gaze away from her to see who it is who joined him, and sees Charles standing by his side with a grin.

“Congrats bach boy, you found your treasure!” he happily tells him, pointing to the woman he was staring at until then. Jake silently puts his whole attention back on her, not bothering saying anything back, his friend’s words repeating themselves in his mind. _You found your treasure._

And he did indeed, about three years ago, when they finally got together after all this time pining for her. There’s no doubt in his mind – she _is_ his treasure.

The most precious thing in his entire life.

“Thanks bud,” he eventually tells the other man with a grateful smile, who simply nods in return, glad Jake liked his idea after all, despite the rough start his scavenger hunt got.

It takes Amy some more time to notice that Jake is here, but when she does, she calls his name before abandoning everyone and clumsily reaching to him with a grin lighting her features, soon matched by one of his own. She greets him with a kiss, and his hands naturally find their place at her waist, holding her close.

(And steady – it seems like she’s had so much to drink, she can’t stand straight anymore.)

“What are you doing here?” she asks, curious, when they part. “You guys still struggling with your scavenger hunt? I’d love to help, but you should know I’ve had a few drinks already so I might not be able to think properly anymore…” she warns him, letting out a small sheepish giggle as she confesses.

“Only a few?” Jake teases her, feeling how hard she holds onto him to keep her balance right now. She pouts, feigning being offended, and it only makes him laugh more.

_She’s adorable,_ he can’t help but think.

He soon falls serious again, though. “Don’t worry, we don’t need your help. We figured everything out already.”

Despite what she just told him, Amy seems a bit disappointed by her fiancé’s answer. She loves those kind of games, after all – even when her mind is so blurry.

“And what was the price?” she still wants to know.

Jake pauses a second to look at her, his eyes full of love for the woman between his arms, and his grin only grows wider when he lets out, “You.”

Amy’s face instantly softens, and she’s unable to make another sound, melting inside.

For a short moment they remain quiet, simply taking in the other, until the male detective sees it – a bandage on top of his fiancée’s head. He reaches to it with his hand, gently brushing it with his thumb, and a worried frown appears on his features as he does so.

“What happened to you?”

“Nothing,” the woman quickly reassures him, taking his hand off her and squeezing it in her own. “I slipped and fell down the bar while spraying everyone’s face with alcohol. No big deal.” She shrugs nonchalantly, and this explanation immediately calms Jake down, even laughing at the image forming in his head.

“Seems like you’re having a great time,” he eventually tells her, and she acknowledges his word with a nod.

“I am. But the real party starts now that you’re here. Let’s grab you a drink.”

She leads him towards the bar without waiting for an answer. They stay there for a while, sharing a beer and stories about their day and what their friends organised for them in animated conversations. But then Jake seems to suddenly remember something, and he falls silent, scanning the crowd around them as if searching for someone.

Then he turns back to Amy, who’s watching him in confusion. “So, which one is it?” he asks with an amused smile, and it takes her some time to understand what he means.

_Oh right_ , it finally hits her. She _did_ tell him about one of the members of the band they hired for their wedding also being a guy she formerly had sex with, while they exchanged a few texts during the day – mostly drunk declarations of love, or Jake asking her for help when his clues started getting too tricky.

And _that_ , too.

Discreetly, she points to a man standing not so far away from them. “This one.”

“Ooooh, nice, Santiago!” Jake can’t help but tease her when his eyes find the very handsome man she shows him, humming in appreciation.

Her response his quick to come, punching him in the sides, apparently not amused. “This is not funny!” she complains, but her reaction only makes her fiancé laugh more.

She rolls her eyes, exasperated and ready to snap back, when they’re suddenly interrupted by Charles and Rosa calling them to join in a game they just finished preparing for them.

They oblige then, and soon men and women find themselves in a fight for victory led by both members of the couple of the night. Needless to say things escalade rather quickly, with those two very competitive people at the head of their respective team. But, even though the scores are tight all game long, the ladies are eventually declared winners.

Amy can’t help but make a whole fuss about it, teasing Jake about his loss repeatedly, but for once he doesn’t care, because she’s too damn adorable right now to feel disappointed.

She looks so happy – that’s really all that matters to him. He would lose every game he’d ever play if it meant seeing her smile never fade away.

Someone else doesn’t agree with him though, and it _does_ bother him that the women won. Indeed, Captain Holt immediately asks for a return match, claiming his team was disadvantaged by having Hitchcock and Scully being part of it, and asking for a share fair of people, when _they_ were the ones outnumbering their adversaries in the first place.

No-one complains then when the ladies accept his request and their boss excludes the two detectives from the game – not even the concerned parties, who oblige without question, too happy to be able to go back and sit at their table to watch the others play from afar, not understanding the rules anyway.

It’s only much later in the night, when the bar has started to empty and people to calm down, tiredness taking over as alcohol is slowly leaving their bodies, that Jake and Amy find themselves alone together again. Seeing him at the bar ordering one last beer, the newly-graded sergeant stands from her booth where Rosa and Gina are half-asleep next to her, and walks towards Jake.

He smiles as he sees her approaching and the minute she’s by his side, he gently grabs her by the waist to pull her close to his chest.

“You alright?” he softly asks her, and she simply nods and hums in return, smiling back at him before she puts a hand around his neck and leans over in a tender kiss.

When they eventually part, they stay still, keeping their eyes closed and tight embrace, foreheads resting against one another.

“I can’t believe we’re getting married in less than a month already,” Jake whispers, breaking the silence that fell around them.

“Twenty-two days,” Amy specifies in a same soft voice – of course she’s counting down the days –, and her heart misses a beat at the thought. “We’re getting married in twenty-two days.”

They still have a lot to do before the D-Day for it to be completely perfect, and it will probably freak her out later when she realises how little time they have left to organise it all, but for now she doesn’t care – she simply relishes that tender moment she’s sharing with her very-soon-to-be husband.


	7. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-5x16, Amy clears her desk on her last day as Detective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is literally nothing really interesting but I'll just miss Amy and Jake sitting right across each other lol and I had this image in my head of her clearing her desk so... Here it is! I'm so, so happy for her promotion though, she deserved it so much.

It was about eight years ago when Amy sat on that chair for the very first time.

She still remembers that day perfectly, how nervous and excited she was to start this new adventure.

She had just stumbled upon Jake and his ‘weird friend,’ as she thought of Charles at the time, when her new Captain went out of his office and called her to join him in. She quickly left the pair and walked towards her boss then, trying to forget about the embarrassing thing she just heard ( _‘I_ _’m hearing wedding bells!’_ ) and focus on her job instead of paying attention to the Detectives on her back who had started arguing.

( _“_ _What the hell, Charles?! What was that?!”_

“ _True love, Jakey – you’ve just been hit by true love.”_ )

She remained in her Captain’s office for a while, listening to his instructions, until he took her on a tour of the precinct, explaining everything to her as she assiduously took a lot of notes on her book, and then showed her to her desk.

“Here, you will sit across Peralta,” he pointed to the man who was now sitting there at his own desk. “This is Amy Santiago, our new Detective,” he introduced her to him.

“Yeah, we met already,” Jake replied with a nod, never once making eye-contact with her, as if avoiding her.

There was a pause after that, until their boss spoke again. “Great,” he simply let out, then left them alone to go back to his office.

Silence took over again as Amy sat on her chair and started arranging some of the things on the desk, making it _her own_ by adding some of her own stuff – and proudly aligning her ‘Det. Amy Santiago’ sign with her new colleague’s. She could feel his gaze on her, watching her intently moving around from behind his computer, so she looked up.

He opened his mouth when their eyes met, as if to talk, but remained speechless in the end.

“Everything’s alright?” she asked with a frown.

“Yeah, it’s just… I’m sorry about Charles and what he said. That was awkward.”

“It was, yeah…” she nodded in agreement. She wanted to add something, _anything_ , so that they could forget about their first meeting and start over on a better note but nothing came. Thankfully, as if motivated by her starting the conversation, Jake quickly spoke again, and didn’t shut up afterwards, asking questions, wanting to know more about his new partner.

(She would learn with time that he was that type of person – _always_ having something to say.)

(She would learn with time that Charles had been right in the end, no matter the trauma he caused her, and wedding bells there would be indeed for them.)

It was eight years ago when Amy sat on that chair for the very first time, and now she’s about to leave it for good.

She’s about to start a whole new adventure, one step closer to her goals. And though this is of course exciting and all of her dreams coming true, she can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic while packing her stuff, thinking about everything that happened here, and the great friends – _family_ , even – she made along the way, while being part of this squad.

Thinking about the man across her desk, who’s now going to be her _husband_ in just about a month. It must be stupid, since they’re living together and she’s literally going to be only _one_ floor below him, but she’ll miss being able to work _that close_ to him everyday, sharing glances and other missing moments on the job with him.

“Ready?” Jake suddenly appears from behind her back, taking her out of her reverie just when she was thinking about him. She turns in his direction, and offers him a tender smile as he approaches.

“Almost.” She puts her attention back down to what she’s holding in her hands – her Detective sign –, brushing against the ‘Det.’ part of it with her thumb.

She’s no longer one. She’s a _Sergeant_ now. It still feels a little surreal, when she thinks of it.

When he finally reaches her side, her fiancé puts his own hand on her shoulder, curiously watching what she’s doing. He smiles when he sees the sign. “I’m so proud of you,” he softly tells her, and that makes her look up at him, her shining eyes meeting his as warmth takes over her heart at his words. He’s always been so supportive, and she feels so lucky to have him in her life.

“Though I have to admit, I’ll miss working only a few inches away from you,” he lets out a chuckle after a beat.

“Don’t go fall in love with the new person they assign to this desk,” Amy jokes back, turning so that she’s facing him now, and that makes him laugh.

“Doubt that,” he answers her, letting his hand fall from her shoulder to her own and intertwining their fingers together as he speaks, half-amused, half-serious. “I’ll be too busy telling them how great the Sergeant from the floor below is doing and bragging about her being my wife.”

Once again, his choice of words overwhelms her with pure bliss.

_My wife._ They’ve never been closer to become husband and wife. She can’t wait for it to be official.

She’s in such complete awe, she doesn’t know what to say back at first, until she eventually lets it out –

“I love you.”

She leans over then, and presses a gentle peck on his lips.

“Me too.”

A smile is lighting up his features when they part. “Now let’s go home? You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

Amy silently nods, and she lets him lead her out of the room, and the whole precinct, thinking about how this is the last time she’s walking in this building as a Detective. Because from the next day on, she’s going to go inside as a _Sergeant_.

(The next morning, when she appears in their bedroom all dressed in her new uniform while he is still in bed, Jake can’t help but stop and stare at her for a while.

“How do I look?” she half-nervously, half-excitedly asks him, a huge grin brightening up her face, proudly showing off her new clothes.

There’s not a doubt in his voice when he tells her, “You look dope, babe.”)


	8. Darling, You Look Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5x18 Canon-divergence, in which Jake and Charles come to the precinct while Amy is there in her wedding dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted Jake to be in that scene (like everyone else I suppose). So I quickly wrote him in haha.

_“And I want a mermaid cut with tulip sleeves.”_

_“Say it again. Say it loud.”_

_“A mermaid cut with tulip freakin’ slee–”_

Amy is cut short in her demands for her perfect wedding dress the second she turns away from Rosa to face the rest of the people in the bullpen, and watches helplessly as the elevator’s doors open, revealing to her sight Charles, then another guy, and then _Jake_ as they walk out of it in the middle of her shooting the last word.

The older detective is the first one of the two to notice her, with her fiancé being too caught up in whatever he’s doing on his phone to look up yet. But then Charles lets out a choked gasp as soon as his eyes lay on her, and it’s all it takes for the younger man’s attention to finally been drawn to what’s happening in the room, curious.

He spots her right away. Which isn’t a surprise really, given how the whiteness of her dress contrasts with everyone else’s outfits around her (everyone except for Rosa, maybe).

His reaction is quick to come then – his hand falls back to his side on its own choice, and he freezes, mouth half-open and curling up in a puzzled yet dreaming smile, staring intently in her direction, unable to take his gaze off her even for a split instant. The look in his eyes is indescribable, but there’s so much love and awe in it, Amy can feel it piercing through her whole soul and warming it all up along the way.

(Her cheeks turn a little shade of red too.)

The room fills with silence, or maybe that’s just them being too caught up in each other to notice anything else, but a moment passes and they simply remain like this.

There’s something about seeing her in a wedding dress that suddenly makes it all the more real to Jake, that they’ll soon be united, and that’s silly because he _knows_ it’s coming up, they’ve been talking about it for months and even more so now that the ceremony is nearing and they still have so much to take care of, but still it seems like there’s a whole world between _mentioning_ it and actually _seeing_ it taking some kind of form for the first time. And clearly, he wasn’t prepared for what looking at his fiancée in that pure, white gown would to do his heart.

He’s dreamed of that moment so many times – and now it’s really happening. He’s literally on the verge of breaking into tears – _blissful_ tears, of course – when he thinks about how this is his life right now, and how in about a month she’s going to marry him.

That she’s going to be standing there in her wonderful gown and slowly come to him.

To think that just a year before he was being sent to jail, thrown to an uncertain future that could have cost him up to 15 years away from the love of his life.

Thankfully it didn’t come to this. Thankfully now his future is clearer than it has ever been – he’s gonna spend it _by her side_. And nothing could make him happier than that.

As all these thoughts wander in his mind, he can’t manage to turn his eyes away from Amy, no matter how hard Charles tries to make him look away, even using their perp as a shield between the two lovers to block his sight because _what the hell Amy, do you want your wedding to be doomed?! He can’t see you like that!_

But the truth is, right now, Jake couldn’t care less about those dumb superstitions. Not when his fiancée in standing right in front of him and looking so damn gorgeous.

“Calm down, Charles!” she finally speaks up, tired of their friend’s whining. “These are just superstitions, and it’s not the dress I’m going to wear to my wedding anyway.”

“It’s not?” Jake raises a confused eyebrow at her words, suddenly finding his voice again, surprised. She gives him her whole attention again then, and her features instantly soften the instant their gaze meet. She offers him a small, loving smile as she finally makes a step forward and approaches him.

She puts both her hands on his arms when she reaches his side, gently stroking them while she explains herself. “It’s not really my type. I was thinking about… something different.” She doesn’t want to go too deep into the details with him – wants it to be a surprise.

“Whatever pleases you.” Her fiancé simply beams at her as an answer before stepping closer, pressing a soft kiss on her lips. “But for the record, you look stunning in that dress.”

(He’ll learn a month later that this first peek at Amy in a wedding dress did nothing to his heart in comparison with seeing her in her new one – her _true_ , _chosen_ one – walking down the aisle with her bouquet of flowers wrapped in New York Time’s paper from April 28th, 2017 to join him in front of the precinct.

There are tears prickling in his eyes when he breathlessly tells her as she’s finally reached his side and before anyone else starts speaking, only for her to hear while he squeezes their fingers together, never once looking away from her even just for a second, “You look like a mermaid in that dress.”)

(He’ll learn later as he takes all his damn, sweet time to take it off her on their first night as a married couple, not wanting to crumple it on his way, that it was made on purpose – that such a thing as ‘mermaid cut’ does exist and that it was exactly what Amy was looking for.)


	9. We Keep This Love in a Photograph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS for the wedding. A few weeks after, Jake has a little surprise for Amy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the kudos and comments on my previous works, that really means a lot <3

When Amy comes back from getting herself a cup of coffee, she catches her most dedicated officer in a deep conversation with her husband in front of her desk. She frowns, not expecting to see Jake here, but then he says something that makes Gary laugh, and she softens, a smile spreading across her face as she comes closer to the pair.

She remembers their encounter, how both so nervous and excited her subordinate was to meet her husband – still fiancé at the time – and the amused look the other man gave her when he shook his hand, talking too quickly and loud as he told him that _you must be Jake, I’m so honoured to finally be meeting you!_

There already wasn’t a doubt about that, but as she watched them interact for the first time, she couldn’t help but think that he _was_ an Amy indeed, from his cleverness to his weird obsession over his boss – and thus everything (and every _one_ ) related to her.

“Hi Jake,” the Sergeant happily greets her husband when she finally reaches their sides, to which he answers with a smile of his own, his whole attention immediately switching from his conversation partner to her. “Jennings,” she politely nods at her officer then, and he brightly smiles back at her too.

A beat passes, and the young man doesn’t seem to understand this was his cue to move, standing in the way of the couple and looking at them as if waiting for them to go on with whatever they have to say to each other without minding him, so she gives him another look, more pressing this time.

“Oh, I’m… going to go now, I have some paperwork to do,” he suddenly gets it, sheepishly pointing towards his own desk. “It was great seeing you again, Jake. Bye!”

And just like that, he rushes away. The other two curiously watch him as he leaves with kind mockery in their eyes.

“I love that guy,” Jake eventually turns to his wife, a grin lighting up his features as he speaks.

“Yeah, and he really loves you too,” she acknowledges with a small chuckle. “I don’t know what you guys talk about, but you always seem to make him laugh.”

“What can I say? I have that effect on Amies,” Jake fake-modestly shrugs. In response, his wife simply rolls her eyes, not bothering answering with anything as she pretends being annoyed by his silliness. Which doesn’t work well, since a laugh escapes her throat despite all her good intentions to remain stoical.

Because he’s right, after all, and this is a good example of it – he _does_ make her laugh. A lot.

“Anyways,” she falls serious again, her curiosity taking over. “What are you doing down here? It’s not lunchtime yet.”

“Do I need a reason to come see my wife?”

Amy’s lips instantly curl up into a soft smile, her heart warming up in her chest at his choice of words. They’ve been married for a few weeks now, but she still feels overwhelmed every time he refers to her as such – his _wife_. She’s not quite sure she’ll ever stop marvel at it someday, even years from now.

She tries not to let her mind linger on it too much, having other things to deal with right now – like figuring out what’s going on with her _husband_.

“Jake…” she trails off then. “I can see you’re hiding something.” As she speaks, she points at his left hand he’s kept behind his back ever since she joined him at her desk, and caught her attention the moment she saw him standing like that. “What is it?”

“Okay, fine,” he gives up. “Remember how we were looking through our wedding pictures the other night to pick the ones we’d like to have printed?” All of a sudden he sounds really excited, his eyes sparkling as he intently stares at her with a mysterious expression on his face, waiting for her to react.

She nods her invitation for him to go on with his statement, not understanding where he’s going with it yet.

Because of course she remembers. They spent the whole night back from their honeymoon curled up on the couch with a bottle of wine going through all the pictures and videos their friends took of them on their big day, reminiscing it with emotion and mocking Charles for not being able to take _one_ decent one, all of them blurry from his shaking and crying while he was shooting or recording them.

He was even sobbing so much during the actual ceremony that you can’t hear the pair recite vows through his loud tears.

(Thank God Terry and Gina were capturing it too, for Amy would have been truly disappointed not to be able to relive that moment when Jake started to rap how strongly he felt about her, improvising a line in his very prepared speech about how they were currently standing at the exact same spot where he told her he wished for something _romantic_ to happen between them for the very first time and how they were getting married now, managing to make her laugh _and_ cry both at the same time.)

(It really was one of the highlight of the day – even though the whole day, bomb threat and what followed next forgotten, was a highlight by itself.)

“Well, I think I found my favourite,” he takes her from her reverie and back to the reality of the moment, finally moving his hand from behind his back and handing her what he was holding in it. She grabs it between her own fingers, and when her eyes lay on the picture, she lets out a wholehearted laugh.

“Seriously? You chose this one to frame?” She looks up at him, amused, and he nods in agreement.

She can’t quite believe it. Out of all the hundreds of _beautiful_ pictures their friends took of them with actual _cameras_ and in a dreamy setting, Jake picked the _one_ silly selfie they made with his phone while waiting at her old desk, not even in such a good quality. But, as she recollects the moment, it actually suddenly makes a lot of sense.

The bomb threat had just been out, and they were back at the precinct, still in their wedding outfits but not yet married, interrupted right in the middle of it, and Amy was starting to really feel stressed out about their ceremony turning wrong. She sat on her old chair and buried her hands into her hands, letting out an irritated sigh, but in just about a second Jake was by her side, making her look up by intertwining their fingers together and stroking her back, telling her that everything was going to be alright, that no matter what by the end of the day they would be husband and wife, and that it was all that mattered.

He told her months ago he would marry her in a dumpster if he had to, and that offer still stood.

(Hopefully they never got to get to that.)

He calmed her down the way only him ever knew how, and he made her laugh, her anxiety loosening with every new word he let out, and eventually he took out his phone as they were waiting for some updates on what was going on, starting to take pictures, telling her about how he wanted to capture that moment forever –

The day he was marrying the love of his life. Because not even a bomb could take how happy _this_ made him feel away from him.

She played along with him then, making silly faces at the camera, and when he came closer to press their heads together while pressing on the button of his phone, she swore she never felt so whole and loved and _in love_ than it that particular instant.

(In the end he was right. Before the sun set that day they were married indeed, even though it wasn’t where, and how, they had initially planned it.)

(It was _better_ , in a sense.)

(It was _them_ – just like this photo is. A perfect representation of their relationship. Two best friends madly in love with each other.)

That’s why, when she finally looks back up to her husband after staring at the picture for a while, there are a few tears prickling in Amy’s eyes – happy, _emotional_ salty pearls.

“I love it. Thanks, babe,” she finds her voice again. Moved by his attentions, she puts a hand on his heart, gently grabbing his shirt, and he covers it with his own, squeezing it between his fingers all the while looking at her with pure bliss in his eyes and a loving smile on his lips.

If they weren’t in a room full of their subordinates, she would have kissed him right there, right now, but she has to restrain herself instead.

Quickly though, she draws herself away from him and goes around her desk, to carefully put the framed picture right next to the one that is already laying there, that she took from her old desk upstairs – another photo of the both of them. She takes a moment to look at them, a contented beam brightening up her face as she does so.

They’ve gone through some hard times in the past, like during that day the first picture was taken, as a few hours later Jake was wrongly found guilty for some crime, but she’s glad now things seem to have fallen back to place for them, as the second picture shows it perfectly. They’re united until the end.

(Only later that day will she notice, when it’s her turn to visit his floor as she needs to talk to her Captain, that he actually framed the photo twice, keeping one for himself to put on his own desk, right in evidence in the middle of the mess that his desk is.

She smiles at the sight of it, and stops on her way back down to take a look at it – even if the same one is waiting for her on her own place.)

(And, as years go by, both their desks will get filled with more and more pictures, as their family grows bigger and bigger.)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-5x19. Jake and Amy come back home from their bachelor/ette parties.

The ride back home is relatively quiet.

Jake and Amy are both seated at the back of Reginald VelJohnson’s car, (finally) the last two people he has to drive back to their apartment for the night. While Jake is attempting at making some kind of conversation with one of the heroes from his favourite movies, still in shock Charles managed to get him to participate in his bachelor party, Amy’s head is comfortably lying on the crook of her fiancé’s neck, eyes closed as she’s starting to doze off, rocked by the road, with her fingers loosely clasped around Jake’s hand on his lap.

“We’re here,” the actor eventually pulls over in front of the couple’s building, turning towards them to let them know it’s time for them to leave, so that he can head back to his own house after that crazy night he’s been dragged into against his will – never will he ever again agree on being a surprise at a bachelor party – or any other party, for that matters, he promises himself.

Very gently, not to startle her, Jake pokes the woman’s shoulder to wake her up, but it doesn’t seem to work – on the contrary, all it does is to make her curl up even further against his side.

“Babe,” he then calls her in a whisper, planting a sweet kiss on top of her head, right above the bandage covering her still fresh wound. “We’re home.”

“Mmmmh,” she lets out a grunted sound, but eventually opens her eyes and agrees on following him outside and into their apartment, clinging onto him, barely standing on her two feet otherwise. He accompanies her into their bedroom, where he sits her on their bed before leaving her there.

“I’ll be back in a sec,” he softly tells her when he sees she’s about to argue – she doesn’t seem to want to let go of him.

Just like he promised, Jake is back in the room in no time, bringing two glasses full of water with him. He hands one of them to his fiancée, who quickly downs it.

“Thanks,” she seems to find her voice back and be a little more awake now as well. “For everything, actually,” she adds after a short, contemplative pause, looking up at Jake as she speaks. “I realise I didn’t say it earlier.”

He frowns.

“What else would you thank me for?” he curiously asks, taking a seat next to her on the edge of the bed. “I mean, apart from being an awesome fiancé, but that’s no news,” he can’t help but tease, and that makes Amy both roll her eyes and let out a chuckle at the same time. She quickly falls all serious again, though.

“You wanted to surprise me by booking a band I liked for our wedding. That’s so sweet.”

She takes his hands in hers, never turning her gaze away from his, and he smiles. “I’m sorry I kinda ruined it.”

“You didn’t ruin anything,” Jake immediately reassures her without second thought, squeezing their fingers together, and this time it’s her turn to smile.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll manage to find another available band this close to the wedding…”

“We still have Judy’s CDs,” the man mockingly reminds her of the criminal’s gift before he disappeared. “I think I’d rather have our first dance to a song about us smooching than some dude wanting to win you back anyway,” he jokes and that makes Amy laugh, a real,  _light_ one, all the guilt she’s been feeling ever since she learned about that whole story disappearing at once.

She scoots over to get closer to her fiancé, gently cupping his face with her hands, and she presses a soft kiss on his lips. “I can’t wait to marry you,” she whispers as she lets her forehead rest against his, her hands going down to rest flat on his chest now.

“I can’t wait to marry you too,” Jake happily echoes her words.

There’s a pause then, during which none of them talk while keeping their embrace tight. That is, until Amy dreamily starts drawing the lines on the detective’s body with her finger. There’s a new fire in her eyes when she eventually looks back up at him and watches him with a mysterious grin, the tiredness she felt earlier now completely forgotten.

“Also, speaking of smooching…” she beings in a suggestive voice, never stopping touching his torso. “I think I’ve cooled back down to 4-drink Amy…”

“Ooooh,” Jake makes an appreciative sound at hearing the news, raising his eyebrows and the same kind of smile forming on his own lips, more than aware of what this means, and where it’s inevitably going to lead them. “My favourite kind of Amy to finish the night with,” he jokingly says, and in return Amy gives him a questioning stare, apparently not amused.

“I’m kidding. All the different shades of Amy are my favourite kind of Amy,” he quickly corrects himself then before kissing her as an apology, starting soft before the woman quickly turns it into something more passionate, switching places so that she soon finds herself on his lap and straddling him.

He was right earlier – this  _is_  the best night of his life indeed, ending it in the love of his life’s arms, he can’t help but think as he works on removing her jumpsuit.

(A thought that will be erased fast from his mind exactly three weeks later on the night of their wedding, though. Because  _that_  will be the actual best night – best day, even – of his life.)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1x19 Canon-divergence, where Amy hasn't put on any lipstick yet when Jake comes to her, so he asks her out. Problem is, she still already has her plans with Teddy that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by a prompt given to @fourdrinkamy on Tumblr, and since I like to suffer (and wrote way too many fluff during the past weeks lmao) it inspired me to write this little thing. There's an happy ending to this though, because no matter what these two are meant to be :)
> 
> Also I'm sorry my last 2 OS don't have any title but I'm the worst to find decent ones so I just gave up haha...

_“Hey, before you go, I wanted to ask you something.”_

_“Of course.”_

As she answers him, Amy is looking at Jake, her brown eyes piercing carefully through his core, with a small, inviting – curious, even – smile lighting up her face. For just a second, before he talks again, he switches his gaze from her and over to Charles, who’s standing behind her and discreetly listening to their conversation.

The older man nods in reassurance, and it’s all it takes for Jake to take a deep breath, putting his eyes back on the other detective’s.

“I was just wondering… would you like… to have a drink or something? Or maybe dinner?” he spills it all out at once, shrugging as he speaks. He tries to play it cool, as if this is just some random question with no further meaning, when in fact he’s just handed his heart on a silver plate for her to make whole –

Or completely crush.

He has a feeling this is leading to the second option unfortunately, seeing her smile drop instantly when his words reach her. She furrows her brows in confusion, and he begins to think all of this was finally a bad idea. He shouldn’t have listened to his best friend and his dumb advice.

He should have simply done what he does best: repress his feelings, like he’s become so good at doing through the years, instead of acting on them for once.

But then she eventually finds her voice, and he’s startled by her answer. “When?” she asks him. It’s not much, not a plain ‘yes,’ and she still looks puzzled by such a request coming from _him_ – she’s not so sure how she’s supposed to take this – what it means exactly – if he’s being serious or messing around with her, with a plan in mind. But at least she didn’t push him away and denied it all right away.

It’s enough to calm him down a little.

“I don’t know. Tonight, maybe?” His mouth is dry, and he’s a bit shocked too when realisation hits him that he’s actually doing it, that he’s _asking Amy out_ , and when he starts rubbing his hands together in a nervous gesture, he can feel his palms starting to get sweaty. “Unless you already have plans, of course,” he quickly adds though, noticing how something immediately changes in her expression as soon as he mentions _tonight_.

“I do have plans actually,” she replies. She shortly pauses after that, before she goes on confessing, “I’m going out with Teddy again.”

She offers him an apologetic smile, but all he can focus on is the excited glow which appears in her eyes when she starts speaking about the other man. “But we can still do that another time?” She tries to come up with an alternative to his offer when she notices how upset her answer apparently makes him feel. Jake doesn’t seem to hear her, too lost in his own mind.

“Oh.” He only eventually manages to let out a gasp, his heart clenching in pain in his chest as the woman’s words keep going in a loop in his head. _I’m going out with Teddy again._

It hurts.

For a moment Amy watches him in silence, not really understanding his reaction, nor why he suddenly looks so sad. “Wait, were you… asking me out?” she wants to know then, the only possible explanation she can come up with, despite how insane even just the thought of him being interested in her could be.

Of course she noticed how weirdly (and sometimes quite annoyingly, she has to admit) he acted during their whole day at Tactical Village, doing everything he could not to leave her and Teddy alone every time he approached her, but she thought he was just messing with her, like her partner always did. She didn’t imagine there would be more to that.

Because after all, he _did_ crush one of her dates (and his own, in the meantime) once already, simply to prank her into believing she was going out with a criminal.

So such actions aren’t news, coming from him. What’s new though – and seems pretty surreal still –, is that he might _like her_ , if she’s to trust his current behaviour towards her.

“Asking you out?!” Jake takes her out of her reverie when he repeats her last words with a laugh. She can tell he’s forcing it, which makes her wonder even more. “Only in your dreams, Santiago! I just wanted to spend time with my friends,” he tries to deny it all, joking being his best weapon for it, feeling too embarrassed to admit it –

That he _does_ like her indeed.

“Charles was going to be invited too.” He turns over to the other detective, who’s still there listening to them from afar. “What do you say, buddy? Wanna grab a drink together tonight? Only you and me since Amy seems to have better plans already…” The more he talks, the more obvious it becomes there’s something wrong with him.

From the other side of the bullpen, Charles shakes his head in disapproval, but doesn’t make any comment. He simply backs his friend by agreeing to his request.

“Perfect,” he answers his colleague and thanks him with a nod before putting his whole attention back to Amy. “Another time, maybe,” he repeats what she told him earlier. “In the meantime, have a good date, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He tries to sound casual, and even manages a smile at her, but no matter his efforts, it barely reaches his eyes.

“Okay…” the woman trails off, still startled by what’s happening. She wants to say more, doesn’t want to leave things this way between the two of them, but it looks like Jake is done with this conversation already, leaving her side to join their shared friend. She simply leaves too then, so that she can herself meet with Teddy.

“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Charles asks when she’s gone and it’s only him and Jake in the room. He seems disappointed that the man didn’t go through with his initial plan.

“You didn’t see her eyes when she talked about going out with Teddy. How happy she looked just thinking about their date. I’m just too late. Now can we stop talking about it and just get something to eat please?”

The older detective wants to argue, but seeing the other so devastated, he keeps his mouth shut and follows him outside the precinct.

* * *

“I’m really glad we bumped into each other again. It’s so great getting to spend some time with you again. I didn’t like how we left things off last year.”

Amy and Teddy have been sharing a meal at the restaurant for more than an hour now. And, though it started out pretty well, she soon found herself contemplating with her head stuck on her plate, and her mind lingering despite herself on the conversation she had with Jake earlier. To say that he didn’t confuse her would be an understatement.

“Mmmhmm,” she mumbles her answer, barely listening to – and looking at – her date. She feels terrible she can’t seem to give him her whole attention like he deserves, especially after the first dinner they shared, and how greatly the things went between the two of them. It’d been a while since she had felt like this around a man, even if it was only their first date.

(Not really their first, though.)

Or she just didn’t want to admit at that time that a man was making her feel like that already, a man she got to spend so much of her time with, and had known for so long…

A man who apparently had feelings for her too.

“Is everything alright? You seem a bit off,” Teddy takes her back to the reality of the moment with his remark. She fully looks up at him then and lets out a sigh.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” She pauses, not really knowing how to word it. Not really knowing what _it_ is either. What’s going on with her.

But there’s one thing she’s sure of. That she has to put an end to _this_ , because she can’t give the man false hope. Even if she wanted to give him a chance, such a relationship couldn’t work.

Not when she’s already thinking about someone else while being with him.

He’s a good guy – he doesn’t deserve being hurt, so it’s better to end things before they even begin, she thinks. Whether something goes off the previous talk she had with her colleague or not.

“It’s Jake, isn’t it?” he finishes her sentence for her, and it startles her that he would make such an assumption – though he’s not wrong, technically. She opens her mouth to speak, but he stops her before she has the chance to say another word.

“Amy, I’m not blind,” he tells her. “I saw the way he acted every time I came near you the other day. Is there something going on between the two of you?”

“I don’t know.” Her answer is genuine, and full of sincerity. It’s true things have been ambiguous between them sometimes, if she thinks about it – even more so since that night he took her out when she lost their bet, and she learned about him turning off on a release team the morning after. She never got the chance to confront him about that, now that she remembers.

Still though, she doesn’t _know_ for sure if something could truly happen between the two of them.

“But… he said something to me today, and I think I’m willing to find out. I’m really sorry, Teddy.”

“That’s okay. I supposed I just missed my chance a year ago when I left.”

An awkward silence takes over them after that. Amy doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do now – leave or stay, as her plate is still half-full – but then she decides it’s better if she just goes, so she grabs her purse, and takes out some money to pay for her part of the meal, then gets up.

“It was good catching up with you,” she says with an apologetic smile before they part for good, and despite everything, she means it.

* * *

“Ooooh, pizzas are finally here!” Charles excitedly exclaims when he hears a bang on Jake’s door, grinning at him in an attempt to cheer him up. Not wanting to see anyone after the fiasco that had been his asking Amy out, the two men decided to simply order pizza from the detective’s favourite restaurant and eat it at his place, only the two of them.

Jake stands up from his bed with a sigh, not even the thought of meat supreme being able to make him feel better, slowly walking to his door. He’s been down since the moment the woman told him about her night plans with Teddy, and doesn’t seem to have gotten slightly better since.

He takes a step back though, when he doesn’t come face-to-face with a complete stranger when he opens his door, but with _Amy_ standing in front of him, offering him a nervous smile when their eyes eventually meet.

“Wh–…” He’s about to say something, but she cuts him off.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about what you told me earlier, about wanting to go out together and… I think I’d like that.” Her smile softens into something more genuine, gaining more confidence as she speaks. “Y’know, to have a drink or something. Or maybe dinner,” she repeats his words from when they were still at the precinct.

Silence fills the room when she closes her mouth, with Jake processing everything she just let out, until a huge beam lights up his face as realisation hits him – _hard_. “Are _you_ asking me on a date, Santiago?” he jokingly asks her, unable to act otherwise as it’s difficult to believe that she’s really _here_ and bailed on her actual date to tell him all of this – that she wants to go out with _him_.

“Maybe?” she answers with an amused grin. “I mean, if pizza and wine sounds like a date to you?” She shows him what she’s been holding in her hands, and he laughs.

“That sounds perfect,” he pushes himself to the side to let her in, still smiling broadly, unable – un _willing_ – to stop his mouth from twitching up. “Although…” he trails off, but he doesn’t have the time to warn her of the other presence in his apartment, since she catches a glimpse of him before the brunette can say a word.

“Oh, Charles’s here.” She doesn’t even try to hide the disappointment in her voice when she sees their colleague standing in the middle of the room. He’s obviously followed the whole conversation, given the smile he’s presently wearing on his face too.

“I knew it!” he exclaims in victory when she enters, seemingly proud of himself, his eyes switching from one of his friends to the other. He quickly calms down though, when he notices Jake’s glare at him, silently praying him to leave the pair alone. He obliges then, squealing as he closes the door behind him with a last excited, “Enjoy your night, guys!”

“So, you said you brought pizzas?” the detective asks when they’re all alone in his now rather quiet apartment.

“Yep. They come straight from your favourite place. Meat supreme, display temperature, right?” she enunciates, and it makes him chuckle – a warm, _happy_ sound.

“You know me so well.”

She doesn’t say anything back, simply smiles at him, then goes to his kitchen without asking, taking out two glasses out of one of the closets without even hesitating which one they’re in once. And, as he watches her walk around his apartment as if she were at home there, Jake feels his heart suddenly get whole.

(Even more so when, later that night, after four glasses of wine, Amy unexpectedly cups his face into her hands and boldly kisses him, pressing her body against his.)


	12. Take My Hand, Come With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5x22 SPOILERS. After another problem occurs, Amy has a little breakdown in the midst of everything that keeps happening on her wedding day, and Jake's here to calm her down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is heavily inspired by a scene during the Jim/Pam wedding in The Office. After we got those new spoilers about Peraltiago's wedding, with one being that Amy's veil gets ruined, I immediately thought about this. So I had to write it haha.
> 
> Hope you'll like this little thing, and once again thank you so much for the comments and kudos, they truly make my days :)
> 
> The title is obviously a line from Chris Brown's 'Forever' because, y'know... Jim/Pam wedding feels haha!

Jake finds Amy sitting on a cardboard box in the evidence room, head down and buried in her palms.

She’s in full wedding attire, from dress to veil to  _everything_ , and he probably shouldn’t be seeing her like this before the ceremony, but they got passed respecting the traditions hours ago already, when a bomb threat put their union on hold and they had to go back on detective and sergeant mode while all dressed up for their big day.

Still though, having seen her like this earlier doesn’t prevent him from taking a pause, even just for a moment, to take in how beautiful she looks in that white gown.

She’s absolutely  _stunning_.

He approaches her after a few seconds of staring, and as he does so, she looks up at him, hearing steps coming her way. When their eyes lock, he can see in hers that she’s been crying, all red and blurry from fresh,  _sad_ tears. He hurries up to her side and sits down next to her, taking both her hands in his, worry suddenly overwhelming him.

“Babe,” he gently calls her. “What’s wrong?”

Amy sheepishly lowers back her gaze, taking one of her hands out of his to grab her veil before putting her attention back on Jake. “I ruined my veil,” she sniffs.

She knows she’s being silly, that this is not as much of a big deal as she’s making it, and that she shouldn’t be that devastated, but she can’t help it. It’s been a long day, filled with a lot of unexpected interruptions to what was supposed to be the best day of her life, and this has been the last straw that broke her down. Because it’s the only thing she still had some control over, in all of that mess.

And she  _ruined it_.

“And?” her (hopefully) very-soon-to-be-husband doesn’t seem to see the problem here. He doesn’t mock her, though, simply offers her a reassuring smile as he shamelessly confesses, “I ruined my suit too. I spilled some chocolate on it earlier,” he shows her the barely noticeable stain on the black vest.

A chuckle escapes her throat through her tears at that, but it unfortunately only lasts for a second.

“Ames,” the detective becomes all serious again then, gently forcing her to watch him. “It’s just a veil. Who cares about that? You still look perfect,” he promises her in all sincerity.

“You’re only saying that because you love me,” she stubbornly retorts.

“You’re right,” he surprisingly doesn’t try to contradict her. “I do love you. So much so that I once told you I would marry you in a dumpster. So I think I know what I’m talking about when I say this is no ‘dumpster look.’ You  _really_ look wonderful, Ames. Ruined veil and all.”

She truly softens at his words this time, warming up inside. She’s about to say something in return, but Jake doesn’t stop there. He leans over to the side, where he grabs a utility knife laying next to them, and without a warning, starts cutting his bow tie.

Amy can’t help but slightly cringe at the sight of him  _purposefully_ ruining his suit, but deep down her heart only melts at what he’s willing to do for her – the sweet meaning behind such a simple (and probably dumb) gesture in appearances.

“There,” he looks back up at her when he’s done, a small, amused smile lighting up his features. “We’re even now.”

A single tear falls on Amy’s cheek, but this time it’s not a sad one – more like a salty pearl full of emotions and pure  _love_ for this man that she’ll soon call her  _husband_.

(How lucky she is that he wants her as his  _wife_ and share their whole lives together.)

She puts a hand on his chest and mindlessly starts playing with the cut part of his bow tie, her glowing gaze fixed on his, still so amazed. “I love you so much,” she whispers.

“I love you so much too.” Jake leans over to her and softly puts his lips on hers in a gentle kiss – probably another tradition of ‘not kissing the bride on the day of your wedding before  _the one_ at the end of the ceremony’ he’s screwing with, but after everything they’ve been through today, he doesn’t think it matters anymore.

All that matters is that Amy looks a lot better, and calmer when they eventually part.

“I’m sorry about that,” she apologizes, feeling a bit ashamed about her breakdown now that she’s thinking straight again. “I know I’m making a whole fuss out of nothing, but… with everything that’s been going on today… it’s driving me crazy. It was supposed to be our big day, and now it keeps being put on hold. I just… I’m tired of waiting – I want to marry you now.”

Jake understands. After all, he’s tired of waiting too. That’s why an idea suddenly pops inside his head, and his smile only grows wider when he looks at the woman in front of him.

“Let’s do it, then,” he suggests, and she raises a startled eyebrow at that. “Let’s get married here,” the detective further explains himself. As he speaks, he quickly stands up and offers her his hand for her to take so that they can leave the room and go back upstairs, showing her how serious he is about this.

They don’t need a big ceremony – everyone they need to be there is here already.

Amy’s only response is to beam back at him and take his hand in agreement, letting him lead her outside.

(Only 30 minutes later, thanks to all of their friends’ help to decorate the place, they’re pronounced husband and wife in front of their building and their squad – Amy’s veil completely forgotten and Jake’s bow tie replaced by another one Holt lent him –, and it’s the most beautiful moment they’ve ever lived in their entire lives.)


	13. Young and Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake's hair is turning grey... and he doesn't really like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao truth to be told this is just inspired by me seeing people talk about Andy's hair turning grey in the new pics we got today. Also fluff because after this rollercoaster of emotions we lived through this weekend, now everything's fine. Perfect, even.

“Babe?”

Jake and Amy are comfortably curled up on their couch, none of them paying attention to what’s on the TV in front of them anymore, with the woman gently stroking her husband’s hair, absentmindedly watching him as he’s starting to doze off, lulled to sleep by her soothing touch, when she notices  _it_. The detective only hums in answer, so she goes on.

“I think you’re growing grey hair,” she casually, yet half-amusedly, tells him.

When he previously had his eyes shut, her words make him open them suddenly, just as he draws himself from his wife’s embrace and stares at her with a big, shocked, now very-well awake look. “No, I’m not!” he defensively exclaims. “I’m too young for that!”

His overreaction only makes Amy laugh. She already knew he wouldn’t take the news well when she first opened her mouth.

“Sorry to break it to you babe, but you are,” she nods with her lips curled, contradicting him. “Face it, you’re getting old,  _grandpa_ ,” she can’t help but tease him.

“Urgh, don’t call me  _that_ ,” Jake pouts as he complains. “ _You’re_  the one who’s getting old and needs glasses for not seeing clearly.”

He doesn’t seem to want to admit the truth, so the woman leans over the coffee table to pick up her phone, rolling her eyes at his silly response. “You know I already wear glasses.” She then unlocks the front camera of the device and shoves it in front of his face.

“Take a look by yourself, if you don’t want to believe me.”

She pretends being hurt when in fact this whole situation amuses her a lot – she loves seeing Jake rise up in such a small detail about himself.

There’s a pause following that, during which the detective studies himself in the phone’s camera, touching his hair in search of where it’s  _supposedly_  turning grey. The moment he notices too, his whole expression switches instantly, and Amy, who’s still holding the phone in her hands, is thankfully quick enough to snap it in a shot of the both of them, capturing the instant forever.

The contrast between their two faces – she’s beaming while he looks utterly devastated – is quite funny, and she can’t stop laughing when she watches the result picture.

“Ames, am I getting old?” Jake, on the other hand, doesn’t seem one bit amused by the situation, freaking out about his age, his eyes still fixed on himself through the camera.

“Well, technically, yes you are… We all are,” she simply shrugs, answering him matter-of-factly.

“You’re supposed to back me up on this! Y’know, tell me that I’m still looking as dashing and young as when you met me… That’s how’s marriage supposed to work.”

“I thought marriage was about never lying to your partner?” Amy jokes, before she softens and offers her husband a tender smile. She lowers her phone from in front of his face and puts it where it used to lay on the table, then turns her whole attention back on him, taking his hands in hers on his lap.

“It’s just a few strands,” she reassures him. “Nothing to be so dramatic about. But, if it helps, I have to admit… I find it rather sexy,” she whispers to his ear, a light chuckle escaping her throat. “I think it suits your ‘future dad’ look perfectly.” She watches him knowingly, and that’s all Jake needs to fully calm down and smile back at her.

Which soon turns into a real beam of his own, as he switches his gaze from his wife’s to her slightly bumpy belly. He brings one of his hands away from hers to sweetly, mindlessly rub it.

“We’re gonna be parents,” his existential crisis is completely forgotten by now, marveling at the life that’s creating inside his soulmate’s body with sparkles in his shiny eyes when he affectionately whispers the words.

“We’re gonna be parents,” the woman repeats in a same tone of voice, using her now free hand to put it back on his (greying) hair, watching him watch her like she’s one of the few wonders of this world.

Getting old doesn’t look so bad anymore, finally. Because getting old also means starting new adventures.  _Together._


	14. When Tomorrow Comes (We'll Start Our New Life)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into the night before the wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the words of our Gina Linetti, "tomorrow is the wedding!" So, in celebration to that, I wrote a little something about Jake and Amy's night before the wedding haha. I seriously CAN'T WAIT for tomorrow. It'll be the best night ever.

The bed is huge. Bigger than the one they have at home, Amy notices, and not only because she doesn't have to share it with anyone tonight.

More than one time did she have to sleep in her own bed alone, during the past years, so she can tell the difference. And tonight is quite different indeed – tonight, she's sleeping alone in that hotel room in deep Staten Island for a  _good_  reason. Because tonight is her last night before Jake and her wedding.

Because tomorrow, when she'll go back to bed, she'll actually be married to her soulmate, the love of her life.

The very-soon-to-be Jake Peralta- _Santiago_.

Still though, right now Amy wishes those stupid traditions wouldn't exist, and that she'd be allowed to keep him by her side. They might have parted ways only a couple hours ago, she still misses him already, and the room's too quiet for her to properly fall asleep – she's become accustomed to his breathing next to her at night.

So much so that complete silence doesn't feel right anymore.

She sighs, about to give up on getting enough rest before the long day awaiting her, when her phone buzzes for a second on the bedside table. She frowns, a bit startled at first – she didn't expect anyone texting her this late. But soon, her frown turns into a smile when she reads the name that appeared on her screen.

Jake Peralta:

_You asleep?_

Amy straightens a bit against her pillow, making herself at ease before answering her fiancé.

_Nope._

_Can't sleep._

Her phone buzzes again just a few seconds later, lighting up the dark room with her screen switching on and showing her wallpaper – some silly selfie Jake and she took after they closed their last case together to immortalize it. She takes a moment to look at it, heart warming in her chest and her smile only growing wider.

(Boy, does she love that man.)

_Me neither,_  the message writes.  _Nervous?_

_Excited,_  she corrects.

_Me too._

_Wanna come over?_  Amy starts texting back – after all, he's only staying one floor behind her – but she doesn't send it right away. She takes a pause, contemplating in hesitation what she just wrote, with her thumb hovering over the phone, ready to press the 'send' button.

She wants to be with him for sure but doesn't know if making him come over would be such a good idea. Not that she believes in said stupid traditions – she doesn't – but she knows how things will end up if they find themselves in the same bed tonight, and that's definitely not how she'll manage to get some rest before their big day either.

In the end, she chooses to send it anyway – because then again, she's not sleeping without him either.

Not only a second later does she receive his answer.  _I'm already here_ … And, just as she reads it, she hears a knock on her door that makes her look up from her phone. She's only startled for a second before she quickly gets up and opens her door, coming face-to-face with her grinning fiancé, whose features light up when their gaze finally meet.

A true beam spreads across her face too. "You were there the whole time?" she suspiciously asks, and he gives her a mysterious look.

"Maybe…"

Amy rolls her eyes, if only for the form, as her heart warms up in her chest. She takes a step closer to him and, when she's close enough, presses a soft kiss on his lips, that soon turns into something more passionate. Jake is the one to end it by reluctantly pulling away, an apologetic look in his eyes as he explains, "I can't stay long. Charles's going to kill me if he wakes up and I'm not in the room. He insisted we shared one so that  _this_  wouldn't happen."

He points to the both of them.

"Oh well," the woman chuckles before kissing him again, talking between two pecks on his lips. "We wouldn't want something to happen to you then… I wouldn't want to go down the aisle and have no one waiting for me there…" He laughs along with her, but despite her words, none of them actually stop and let go of the other.

On the contrary, even – with his hands wrapped around his fiancée's waist, Jake gently pushes her back into the room while holding her, leading her towards the bed, quickly giving up on the promise he made to himself when he left his own room earlier: that he would just kiss her goodnight and leave right away.

(He's a fool for thinking that would even have been a possibility.)

"Well, he doesn't have to know… He was snoring hard when I left him. I can sneak back in before he wakes up."

"That sounds like a great idea," Amy hums her agreement, taking him with her as she falls onto the huge mattress with a mischievous grin.

(Needless to say that later, once they're all curled up in bed and Amy's deep asleep against his side, holding onto him as if she's holding onto life itself, Jake doesn't have the heart to move and go away from her, and simply falls asleep with her too.)

(It's only in the morning that they open their eyes again, woken up by Charles shooting through the door. "Jake! I know you're in there!"

But, when the couple comes and opens to him hand-in-hand and glowing from happiness by just being together, his anger leaves his body immediately, and instead of yelling at his best friend again, he simply takes the two lovers into a tight embrace, a single tear running down his cheek.

"Guys, this is it. It's your wedding day," he sniffs between their arms, and they simply smile in return.

This is it indeed.)


	15. What Tomorrow Could Bring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy learns some pretty important news during Holt and Kevin's vows renewal ceremony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I see so many 'Peraltiago babies' talks on my dash on Tumblr those days (please never stop, you give me life), it inspired me to write something haha. This and @middleclassaunty reminding me that I didn't get my wedding slow dance...

The ladies of the Nine-Nine are in charge of some last-minute mission together for their ex-Captain-become-commissioner and his husband’s vows renewal ceremony they finally managed to organise after years of talking about doing it when Amy suddenly rushes out of the main room and towards the bathroom without a warning.

She remains there for a good five minutes, leaving the other two alone, which allows her a suspicious look from her friends when she comes back, staring intently at her while she goes back to what she was doing before she disappeared and acts like nothing happened. Eventually though, feeling the women’s hard gaze on her in utter silence still after a full 30 seconds of having returned, she looks up at them, watching them questioningly as they didn’t move an inch – and don’t seem like doing so anytime soon.

“What?” she asks and sounds a little irritated when she speaks. “These decorations won’t put themselves on the walls by themselves, you know.”

“So you’re just gonna ignore what just happened?” Rosa snaps back – she couldn’t care less about those dumb decorations right now.

“What happened?” Amy feigns ignorance, though her heart starts beating faster in her chest, not liking where the conversation is most likely leading up to already.

“You rushing out to throw up. For the second time this morning.”

“I didn’t go to throw up!” The brunette tries to defend herself, but from the look her friends give her in return, it’s obvious they don’t believe her.

“You got a stain on your shirt,” Gina points with a disgusted grimace, and Amy quickly, worriedly lowers her gaze down to it, only to find nothing but a still pretty neat shirt there.

“Yeah, you definitely don’t have anything to hide.” She exchanges a knowing glance with Rosa after her trick worked.

The Sergeant sighs, defeated.

“Okay, fine. I think I might be pregnant. I haven’t been feeling too well lately, and I’m – I’m a week late already,” she confesses what the others already guessed.

It’s the first time she says her thoughts out loud since it occurred to her that she might be with child, and her heart tightens in her chest at the sound of it coming from her own mouth – in a good,  _warm_  way. She might be  _pregnant_.

“You  _think_?” Rosa repeats, emphasising on the last word in gentle mockery. “Dude, you’re totally pregnant. I thought you’d be the kind of person who takes a test…”

“… More like three,” Gina interjects and grins when she sees Amy’s cheeks turn red at her remark, lowering her gaze – it’s definitely her style.

“The minute you realise you’re late,” the brunette finishes her sentence. “Why didn’t you?”

“I –…” The concerned woman pauses a second to think of what to say next. “I don’t know. I wanted to, but I’ve been so busy with work and helping to put this ceremony together with all of you guys, I didn’t have the time, and I didn’t even get the chance to talk to Jake about the possibility, so…”

“You have a pregnancy test on you?” Rosa cuts her off before Amy starts rambling too much, and though it’s clearly a question, it sounds more like a fact – she knows the cop well, and is pretty sure she’s been carrying the stick with her since Day 1 of being late, contemplating taking it or not every chance she got.

(And apparently always deciding against it each time.)

“Maybe… why?”

“What are you waiting for? Go do it now,” her friend nods in direction of the bathroom.

“No!” Amy’s voice is higher than usual when she denies the detective’s words. “What if it comes back positive? I don’t want to steal Holt and Kevin’s day with the news.”

“And you don’t want to spend the whole day wondering about ‘what ifs’ instead of enjoying yourself if you don’t either,” Rosa gently pushes her towards the lady’s room all the while making her point.

“Plus I don’t want to miss dealing with drunk Amy for nothing if you’re not but don’t know it,” Gina joins in with her own argument – not necessarily the most convincing one, though. “I need a new side of you to mock. It’s time you stop skipping 7-drink Amy and face the truth of who she is.”

Amy rolls her eyes at that, but still manages a small chuckle. It takes her a few seconds of weighing the pros and cons, but eventually, she decides her friends are right and gives in. “Okay.” She follows them to the bathroom after making a stop to pick up her purse, but before she goes into one room, she turns to them with a serious look.

“If it comes back positive, you have to promise me you’ll keep it a secret. Jake can’t know about this.”

“Oooooh, he’s not the father?!” the red-head suddenly seems all the more interested in the matter now.

“What?! No!” Amy exclaims in indignation – she knows Gina’s only joking, but still – the simple thought of her cheating on her husband is a true shocker to her. “Of course he is.  _If_  I’m pregnant, that is.”

“Why then?” Rosa asks. “You can’t be afraid of how he’ll react, right? Dude’s literally waiting for you to get pregnant. We interrogated a woman who just had a baby the other day, and he couldn’t focus on the job, going on and on about how cute a mini-you and he would look like,” she pouts, as if truly disgusted by the memory.

(In reality, she  _did_  find it extremely cute, but there’s no way she’ll admit that out loud.)

“He did?” the brunette immediately softens at the words, a small, endearing smile lifting up the corners of her mouth while the image of her husband comes into her mind.

Suddenly, she doesn’t feel so stressed about that whole situation anymore – though he’s never really been the reason why she would stress out about it.

(Not in that way, at least.)

“Yep. It was gross,” Rosa takes her back to the reality of the moment. “So you have nothing to fear.”

“I’m not afraid of how he might react. Well, I am. But I’m not afraid he’ll react badly – that’s more like the contrary,” Amy tries to explain herself. “I’m afraid he’ll be so happy he won’t be able to keep it to himself and we’ll crush Holt and Kevin’s day by making it about us. So promise me whatever the result, it’ll stay between us?”

“Okay,” both women nod, and it’s with a relieved sigh that their friend enters the room, finally ready to face her fate, and know if her future is about to completely be turned upside down or remain the same (for now, at least).

* * *

Five minutes turn into ten and Amy’s still locked inside the room, with no sound coming out of it, not any form of a hint that she got a result – and what it might be.

“You dead in there?” Gina eventually knocks on her door, not so patient anymore.

It takes the brunette another few seconds until she unlocks the door and goes out, her fingers curled up hard on the stick. When she looks up to meet her friends’ gaze, there are tears in her brown, shiny eyes, and some already falling down her cheeks as well. She doesn’t have to speak for Rosa and Gina to understand – the bright smile she wears as well says it all. They smile back and rush to her to pull her into a tight shared embrace, and that’s only then that Amy lets out the words.

“I’m pregnant.”

Of course, the first thing she wants to do when she learns the – great – news is to go to Jake and share it with him, but she fights against her better instinct, no matter how hard it is not to tell him right away. Today’s not their day. Today’s their 'work dads’ day. The ceremony will end at night, when the foetus will still very much be there.

She’ll let him know then, in the intimacy of their room, when it’s only the two of them and they can properly freak out about the fact –  _they’re gonna be parents_.

She’s pretty sure he’ll understand her choice.

Still, though, it doesn’t make it easier, when he comes to her several times with a glass of champagne for her and she has to quickly think of an excuse to decline his offer or even harder when the person officiating the ceremony starts making a heartful speech about love and family.

She can’t help a tear falling down her cheek as she watches her husband from the corner of her eye, with a hand softly stroking her stomach, thinking about the life that’s growing inside it. He’s crying too when he turns to look at her with a bright, knowing smile and reaches for her hand to squeeze, and she almost blurts it out right there – almost screams to the world that they, too, are about to build a family of their own really soon.

(Or more especially  _make it grow_.)

She has to act distant to prevent blowing it all out despite herself then, and she hates it. Her husband can sense there’s something off with her, of course he can, and starts wondering why she seems to be avoiding him like this, but every time he asks her about it, Amy assures him everything’s fine, so he doesn’t insist, and simply lets her be.

Until the night comes in, and he sees her watching Holt and Kevin – and other couples around them – slow dancing together with a soft smile lighting up her features. He recognises the song playing in the background immediately, and a smile appears on his own face too, thrown back to another time, another wedding.

When a song that used to remind him of heartbreak turned into a beautiful memory that particular night.

_I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you…_

He slowly approaches his wife then, standing next to her, talking with his eyes stuck on the main couple on the dancefloor. “They’re playing our song,” Jake quietly states with an amused beam, and Amy turns to look at him, brows furrowed in dire confusion.

“Since when is this our song?” She doesn’t really understand. “I thought this was your 'post-being dumped by Jenny Gildenhorn’ song.”

Her husband’s smile turns mysterious before he explains himself. “It was. Until you tricked me into believing I’d get a slow dance with you to this song at Charles and Gina’s parent’s wedding and I realised I wanted that so much more than any dance with Jenny. Two seconds of flirting with me were all it took to make me fall head over heels for you again. Or did I ever stop being?”

This time, it’s Amy’s turn to smile back at him, touched by his words, heart warming up in her chest. She doesn’t say anything, though, so he tries his luck, reaching for her hand. “Five years later, can I actually get my slow dance now?”

For a moment Amy hesitates – she’s not sure she will manage to keep the news to herself any longer if they put themselves in such intimacy – but then she catches Jake’s smile falters as seconds pass and she remains quiet, so in the end, she nods and lets him guide her into the crowd.

At first, they move in complete silence – Jake’s hands are around Amy’s waist while hers are hooked around his neck, and their foreheads touch, eyes half-closed as they linger into this instant. But then, after a while of them moving around in shared rhythm, the detective asks the question that’s been concerning him all day long.

“Are you mad at me about something? You barely talked to me today.” He seems really afraid he did something wrong.

“No, I’m not mad at all!” his wife is quick to reassure him, drawing herself a bit away from him so that she can look him in the eye while talking. “On the contrary, babe.”

Her smile is mysterious and all of this makes him feel even more lost. “Why were you trying so hard to avoid me then?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” She pauses, looking away towards Holt and Kevin for a second, who stopped dancing and are now happily chatting with Terry and his wife, before putting her gaze back on her own husband. “You know what, screw this.”

She waited long enough, she decides. She can’t keep it a secret any longer – screw the intimate reveal, screw not stealing her 'work dads’ day. It’s almost over, anyway.

Jake frowns, startled, but doesn’t say anything – simply waits for her to go on, which she does. “I know I should have told you this as soon as I found out,” she starts her apology, “But I didn’t want to 'ruin’ Holt and Kevin’s day, and I knew if I spent time with you I’d just blurt it out so I avoided you, and I’m really sorry for that, but…”

“Ames,” he cuts her in the middle of her ramblings, feeling that she’s starting spiralling, and stops still in their movements in the middle of the dancefloor even though the music’s still loud around them, his eyes piercing through her with a small, reassuring smile. “Whatever it is, you know you can tell me.”

“Okay,” she smiles back, calming down, and takes a deep breath before she lets it all out, moving one of her hands from around his neck to his own still pressed against the skin of her waist, and delicately puts it on her stomach. She leans her forehead against his as she finally confesses, “I’m pregnant.”

“You're… pregnant?” Jake repeats, not so sure he understood well.

“I am,” Amy confirms, starting to feel tears prickling her eyes when she speaks.

There’s a pause, then a whisper.

“We’re gonna be parents,” Jake lets the thought linger in his mind for a little longer, his hand slowly and ever so carefully drawing patterns on his wife’s stomach, still stuck under her own. She can feel his falling tears when he leans over and kisses her, again and again, unable to restrain himself.

_They’re gonna be parents._

When they pull apart, and their watery eyes meet, it seems like realisation completely finishes to hit him –  _hard_.

“WE’RE GONNA BE PARENTS!” he repeats the same words he let out before,  _yelling_  them this time, for the whole room to hear. And though this is what she’s been 'scared’ of the whole day, Amy can’t help but let out a happy giggle at his reaction, his joyfulness being contagious.

She wasn’t able to properly freak out before, and there’s nothing better than doing so with her husband.  _THEY’RE GONNA BE PARENTS!_

(In the distance, among the dozens of guests watching them with confused or grinning looks after that announcement, Charles, him, faints.)


	16. Alegría

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake is the only one who doesn't speak Spanish at home, and his daughters love to take advantage of it to gently mock him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on a fluffy prompt someone sent me on Tumblr a long time ago, that I finally managed to write:
> 
> 'ok ok so all I can think of is Amy teaching her daughters Spanish and they'll say things about Jake and giggle about his sneakers or his hair or something ridiculous and he won't understand what they're saying and yeah I think a fic like that would be v cute'
> 
> (Alegría means 'happiness' in Spanish, and it's also the title of my fave song ever by the Cirque du Soleil.)

Jake comes back home to the sound of giggles and muffled whispers. But, he who would usually be welcomed by two little dark-haired girls running towards him the minute they hear the door open, this time strangely finds himself completely alone when he enters their house. Even Amy isn’t here to greet him, despite her being on a day off.

He follows the distant, happy noises to where they’re coming from then, which lead him inside his and his wife’s room. The loves of his life are there, the three of them sitting on the large bed, with their mother in the middle of the two young girls, a binder spread open on her lap.

She’s showing them something in it – something very  _funny_ , apparently, if he’s to believe their laughter filling the air.

“Hi, babies! What are you guys doing?” Jake leans against the frame of the door, a grin lighting up his features while he watches them, their joy highly contagious.

“Daddy!” Ana and Sarah exclaim in the same voice when they finally notice their father before they exchange a look and burst into a new wave of giggles, their little hands covering their mouth as they do. The detective’s smile turns into a frown, confused by their reaction. He shoots a questioning glance at Amy, who simply shrugs at him in return, acting as if she has no clue of what’s happening while doing her best to contain her own laughter.

The whispers are back after that, loud enough for him to hear, yet he’s unable to understand what his daughters say… because they’re speaking  _Spanish_.

When his wife first suggested their children should be raised with both their languages during her first pregnancy, Jake immediately found the idea quite endearing. He loved it when the woman talked Spanish with some of her relatives during reunions with her side of the family, after all – even if he couldn’t understand a word of it.

He tried learning, once, shortly after they started dating ‘for realz.’ But he soon abandoned the idea – he didn’t have the time to practice it enough for it to stick into his brain permanently, and in a matter of just a few weeks, he was back to square one, with no other knowledge than the simple ‘hello,’ ‘thank you’ and 'I love you.’

Still, he enjoyed the sound of it very much, when it came out of Amy’s mouth – it was very soothing. Even more so after their first daughter’s birth, when his wife started singing her lullabies in this tongue to take her to sleep – the same ones her own mother would sing to her when she was an infant too or, later, when she’d have anxiety attacks and it would be the only thing able to calm her down.

(The same ones she would sing to  _him_  after his time in jail, when he’d wake up all sweaty from an all too vivid nightmare and she’d smooth his hair and hold him tight against her chest, softly humming the words in a whisper in his ear until he managed to go back to sleep.)

He’d never heard, nor seen, something more beautiful before. So, despite him being unable to talk nor understand one of the two languages, in the beginning, Jake simply loved the idea of his children being fluent in both English and Spanish. That was, until times like right now, when they’re exchanging words in their mother’s tongue in secret, eyes drifting from the binder in front of them to him then the other, and laughing harder every time.

At least he understands pretty clearly that they’re (gently, of course) mocking him – and instead of backing up her husband, Amy seems rather amused by the situation as well.

“Could someone share what’s making you laugh so much? I wanna laugh too!” He approaches the members of his little family, trying to sound upset as he speaks, but his pout soon turns into another grin when his daughters suddenly close their mouth, chewing on their lower lip to prevent themselves from talking while watching him.

They look adorable, he can’t help but think. A perfect mix between him and Amy.

He takes a seat on the bed next to them then, and that’s when he sees  _it_.

Carefully put aside in the binder full of different clichés is an old, rather shameful, picture of him with longer hair and wearing a ring nose, dating from when he was in high school. “You kept it!” He looks up at his wife, whose eyes are filling up with tears for restraining herself from laughing too much – it’s becoming harder and harder not to, given the falsely blaming look he’s shooting at her right now.

“Of course I did,” she finally lets out a chuckle, putting a hand on his tight and squeezing lightly, offering him an apologetic smile as an attempt to be forgiven. “It was too good to be left behind and forgotten. And it’s a good thing I did: look how happy it makes our daughter seeing their father at the best of his style,” she mocks him.

“ _You…_ ” Jake sighs and shakes his head, but he can’t help but release a giggle of his own, coming closer to his wife to circle her waist with one of his arms. She immediately eases against his side, letting her head fall onto his chest, with her eyes finding the picture again.

She tries to remain discreet, but her husband can feel her body stutter with her quiet laughter against him. “Wait until I ask your brothers for embarrassing pictures of you,” he warns her, whispering into her ear. “You’ll laugh much less when the girls will make fun of you.”

“Is that a threat, Mr. Santiago?” Amy draws herself away from him so that she can meet his eyes, her own shining with amusement.

“Maybe…” he teases before he brings her back to her, planting a small kiss on her lips.

“Well, at least I’ll understand what they say about me.”

As if on cue, feeling left aside by her parents’ banter, Ana tries to bring the attention back to her – she’s not done having fun yet. “Estaba muy guapo, papa!” she tells him, pointing at the picture with a grin while joining the adult’s embrace, soon followed by her older sister.

“What did she say?” he turns to Amy and is forced to ask, defeated.

“That you were very beautiful. Obviously, she’s making fun of you,” the woman mocks.

“You find this funny, huh?” Jake looks back at his daughter then, eyebrow raised in question, and when she nods, her bright smile showing her dimples, he draws himself away from his wife to grab the little girl without a warning and starts tickling her sides, making her small giggles quickly turn into loud, light bursts of laughter.

Soon Sarah and Amy are invited to join in, and the whole family happily fights together on the bed, filling the room and whole house with their sounds of happiness.

(Later that night though, when the girls are long gone and asleep in their own room and beds and Jake and Amy are curled up in their own, the man turns towards his wife with a serious look on his face. “You think you could teach me Spanish?” he asks, and the woman’s eyes grow bigger at the question.

She feels like she’s been waiting for that moment to happen forever.

“Oh my God, yes!” she ever-so enthusiastically answers, and starts rambling about making a schedule, and how they should divide his learning in different lessons, Jake watching her in silence, an amused, loving smile brightening his features.)

(When two years after that, they welcome a boy in their family, Amy’s not the only one constantly talking to him in Spanish to get him used to the language from his birth. Jake is too, happily putting into practice everything his wife taught him with their newborn.)


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set between 5x04 and 5x22, Jake and Amy ask Holt to officiate their wedding.

“You need me for something, Detectives?”

Jake and Amy have been standing in front of their Captain’s office for a good two minutes, arguing over whether or not now’s the right time to bother him with their request in low whispers. And, though they tried to remain (and truly thought they were) discreet, it seems that Holt noticed them anyway, despite him never looking up from his paperwork even once or seeming bothered by the noise they could have made. Taking his question – that sounded more like an affirmation – as their cue to finally come and face him, the two fiancés enter the room after one last quick exchange of glances and a nod.

When they find themselves in front of their superior officer’s desk and he eventually meets their eyes, he immediately sees how nervous they seem to be, from the way they never stop staring at one another, then back at him. Intrigued, he gives them his full attention, inviting them to start talking.

“Sir, you know how highly we both think of you,” Amy’s the one who takes the floor first, careful and serious as if she prepared what she’s going to say for days (which she did). “We owe you a lot, both regarding our jobs and as individuals. You taught us so much since you joined the Nine-Nine, and _…_ ”

“What do you want, Santiago?” Holt cuts her in the middle of her praises, not quite understanding why she would flood him with them right now. Plus, though her words are kind and rather heartwarming, he presently doesn’t really have the time for it.

“What Amy wants to say is,” Jake joins in then, gently curling his hand over his fiancée’s wrist, offering her a reassuring,  _‘I got this, babe, don’t worry’_  smile when she’s speechless again, caught off guard, before going on. “Would you like to officiate our wedding? It would mean a lot to us if you were the one marrying us,” he quickly adds to their case.

Their Captain keeps quiet for a second, and the couple starts wondering if he’ll decline the offer, trying to read his always so emotionless face. They’d be devastated if he would – the man’s a true inspiration to them, and the idea of having him officiate their wedding germed into their minds not long after Jake popped the question, obvious to them. They spent nights talking about it since, about when and how they should ask him. Until they finally did.

And now, they’re waiting for his reply which, hopefully, eventually comes.

“I’d be happy to,” he says, though, as always, there’s no trace of happiness audible in his tone or visible on his face as he lets out the words.

On the other side, Jake and Amy’s features instantly lit up with a grin, exchanging a knowing glance the minute they hear Holt’s answer, taking in the  _great_  news. They want to scream their joy, hug their superior, but know better than doing so. Instead, they try to remain professional when they look back at him. “Thank you so much, Captain,” they both tell him in one same voice.

He simply nods in return. “Is that all? If so, you can dismiss.” He politely invites them to leave when he sees them still not moving from in front of him.

They quickly do as they’re asked after thanking him one last time, then once they’re out of the office and heading back to their own desks, Amy can’t keep it any longer, grabbing her fiancé’s arm and looking at him with shining eyes.  _“Holt’s gonna marry us!”_  She squeals, and by her side, just as excited about the fact as she is, Jake offers her a broad, loving beam back.

(They can’t see him, but as he watches them leave, Holt’s lips curl up into a small smile too – he’d been waiting –  _hoping_  – for this moment to happen ever since the proposal.)


	18. When the Night Falls Down (The Truth Comes Out)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set during 2x12, six-drink Amy isn't only sad... she's also very talkative about her feelings. (Kind of a missing scene at the end of the episode.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this like... months ago? but never shared it for some reason. Then yesterday I read an OS that reminded me of this and I decided to edit the original version a bit before finally posting it. So here it is. Hope you'll like it :)

It’s late at night (or very early in the morning, depending on how you see things) and almost everyone from the squad has left the party already and went back to their assigned bedroom to get some sleep. Only Jake and Gina are still there, quietly enjoying one last beer while recalling memories of their childhood together, of a time when they were younger, going to different parties with different people.

Actually, they’re not completely alone – Amy’s there too, if only physically. She indeed fell asleep on the couch soon after throwing up, with Gina by her side, pulling her hair back and taking great care of the sad and lonely six-drink Amy. Taking great care of her  _friend_.

She hasn’t moved one inch since despite the surrounding noise when Holt joined the party, and probably won’t if no one comes and wakes her up themselves.

Something the other woman ends up offering with a yawn when she’s finally emptied her beer – as much as she likes Jake’s company, she’s starting to feel very tired and would very much like to go to bed, now.

“Shouldn’t we wake her up?” She nods towards Amy’s sleeping form before standing up from the spot she’s been occupying for a while and stretches out, not waiting for Jake to reply in any way when she reaches her side and pokes her on the shoulder. “Ames?” she then calls her name.

No reaction.

“Leave her,” Jake stops Gina before she begins to shake her whole upper body in an attempt to wake the woman up. “I’ll carry her to bed. Go ahead, I can take care of it.”

He doesn’t have to tell his friend twice – she’s out of the room as soon as he finishes his sentence, waving him goodnight, feeling too relieved she won’t have to deal with sad, lonely Amy again. She loves her, she really does, but having to deal with her depressing feelings right now would have been too much to handle when all she wants is to lay down on her mattress and close her eyes.

Finding himself all alone with his partner and surrounded by nothing else but silence, Jake remains still for a moment, watching her sleep. She seems a lot more peaceful than she was earlier, when she came back to the basement, whining that  _six-drink Amy is so alone_.

He would lie if he’d say that it didn’t break his heart to hear her say that or see her like this, so vulnerable, as she let herself fall to the floor and clung onto that stair. She’s his friend, after all – one of his  _best_  friends, even – so of course he cares about her well-being.

But, before he could react in any way, his Captain discovered their fraud and he found himself having to deal with other problems he caused before being able to go to her and make sure she was okay. And then, when he came back, she was already deep in her sleep.

Eventually, ever-so-carefully, not to wake her up as he does so, he lifts her in his arms, taking a few steps back as he settles her inside his embrace, slightly losing his balance with this new, additional weight to his body – not that she’s a heavy weight; it’s quite the opposite, actually.

When he starts walking, and while she’s still sleeping, the woman unconsciously and instinctively curls her own arms around his neck, huddling to his side, the closer she can, with her head pressing on his chest. This new proximity startles him at first but he soon goes on, taking a new step towards the exit door.

“Jake…” He suddenly hears a call, so low he almost doesn’t catch it, and that makes him stop again in his tracks, looking down at the woman in his arms.

She doesn’t add anything, though, nor does she make a move so he continues his way to her room, thinking he must have dreamt the word and putting all of his attention back on trying not to disturb her too much as he climbs the stairs so that he doesn’t wake her up entirely.

When he reaches his destination, he slowly, gently lays her down on the bed, takes off her slippers then manages to put the covers over her whole body without moving her too much – he knows she’ll be freezing when she wakes up in the morning otherwise. Then, once she’s finally all tucked in, he starts to make his way out of the room and let her rest.

“Jake,” he hears his name again, louder this time, being let out in a shaky voice. “Stay. Don’t leave me, please. Please…” she begs, and he can hear her breaths getting shorter with every new word she speaks as well. In no time, he’s back to her side, worry taking over his whole body as he stares at her.

Despite the darkness surrounding them, he notices she’s now opened her eyes. “Ames?” he asks. “You alright? You need anything?”

“Don’t leave me, please…” It seems like she’s on a loop, taking her hand out of the covers to grip his. The gesture startles him, but less than the fact that she’s shaking – he can feel it through their intertwined fingers. One more look at her face and he can see her so wide-opened eyes staring back at him and shining in the night.

Quickly enough, he understands she’s on the verge of having a panic attack. Six-drink Amy must be really,  _truly_  depressed.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he tries to soothe her, caressing her palm with his thumb. “I promise.”

It seems to work for a while, as she manages to calm down a bit, staring at him as she tries to match his even breathing, a small smile even working its way or her face. It soon disappears, though, when sad thoughts come back and disturb her mind all of a sudden, and she can feel tears prickle her eyes and she’s unable to chase them away.

“I don’t wanna end up alone…” she shamefully confesses, turning her gaze away as she can’t seem to meet his own anymore.

It hits him, then. Six-drink Amy, sad, desperate Amy, isn’t just sad – she’s sad because of her recent breakup. Or at least, that’s what Jake imagines, the only thing that makes sense to him right now given what she’s telling him. And he feels bad, suddenly,  _so bad_ , for not having seen that coming earlier.

For having foolishly thought she handled her breakup with Teddy well when apparently it was play-pretend all this time.

How could have he guessed, though? She’s the one who broke things up with him, after all, and already more than a month passed since the day of their disaster of a road trip – why would she feel saddened by it all of a sudden, then? Is she starting to regret her decision?

No, that’s impossible.

What, then? The fact that it didn’t end the way she wanted, because  _he_  broke her plans?

This could be a thing. After all, Amy hates it when things don’t go according to her plans – it stresses her out deeply. But still, having broken up with one guy – one  _boring_  guy, even – doesn’t mean she won’t find anyone in the future anymore. Especially  _her_ , who’s smart and beautiful and funny and…

And literally one of the best people he’s ever had the chance of meeting in his entire life.

He doesn’t say it exactly like that when he speaks again to answer her, but he makes sure she knows how amazing of a person she is. “Hey, don’t say that. You breaking up with Teddy doesn’t mean you’ll never fall in love again. You’re great, and you deserve someone as great as you are and I’m sure any intelligent person would die to be part of your life.”

“But what if… what if I already found that person, but I realised it too late, and now it’s over because they’re with someone else – someone they truly love?”

_I think it’s because she liked you back,_  Teddy’s voice echoes in Jake’s mind at hearing his friend’s words, relieving the moment in his head.

_Did you?_

_Maybe. Yes._

“What do you mean?” he only asks in return, disturbed by her sudden confession.

“Remember when you told me you wished something happened between us but you knew it was impossible because I was with Teddy and you weren’t trying to change that? Well, that’s what I mean. Seems like we’re always missing each other, huh?”

“Ames…” Jake doesn’t know what to say in return. He’s too aware of what she’s feeling right now, since he indeed had to deal with the same thing some months ago. She’s hurt, and for once he can’t do anything about it. Even worse – he’s the one who’s hurting her, even though he doesn’t mean to, of course.

And so he’s hurt too.

The same weird feeling he felt when he learned that she liked him as well at the inn back then takes over of his chest, but just like he did at the time, he chooses not to linger onto it too much and simply locks it away, repressing it hard.

“I’m sorry to bother you with that,” Amy lowers her gaze, unable to look him in the eye.

She’s still so full of sadness, he wants to take her in his arms, and tell her that everything is going to be okay. Which he does, eventually, and she holds on to him tight, never wanting to let go. “ _I_  am sorry…” he whispers into her ear.

They stay like this for a moment, wrapped up in each other, hearts beating in unison in the dark of the night, until Amy is the one who draws away. She eventually manages to look at her friend then, some tears falling down her cheeks while she lets her hand wander on his face and his own are still on her back.

He wants to say something, anything that could cheer her up but he’s completely wordless for once.

“I'm… tired,” she’s the one who speaks again first, and even though her partner is reluctant about leaving her alone his this state, still under the influence of this six-drink Amy, he can read in her insisting gaze on him that it’s what she needs right now. To be left alone.

(For him, the source of her current despair, to go away.)

He stands up to leave then, but turns around one last time before he passes the door completely. “You know where I am, if you need anything.”

She simply nods and turns her back to him, wrapping herself into the covers even more. He stays here a few seconds still, watching her, before he regains his own room for good. He sighs when he falls onto his bed and watches the ceiling as one sentence doesn’t seem to want to leave his mind.

_Seems like we’re always missing each other, huh?_

But then he takes his phone he’d left there the whole evening to look at the time and sees he received a new text message. He opens it, and a small smile immediately appears on his face and his heart tenderly warms up in his chest when he sees who sent it, and reads it.

_Hey babe. I hope you’re having fun at your party. Thinking of you. xx_

He puts his previous thoughts the farther away from his mind then, suddenly feeling somehow guilty. He’s in a relationship with Sophia – a really, really good relationship. He  _loves_  her. Not Amy. Amy’s his friend, and he just feels bad for her… nothing more.

That’s what he tells himself as he falls asleep anyway.

When he wakes up the next morning and goes down to the kitchen to have breakfast with his squad, Jake is afraid of how things might go with Amy after the confessions she made him the night before while she was still drunk – he hopes it won’t be too awkward between them, now that they finally managed to go back to the relationship they had before this whole “I like you” situation started.

He soon realises she completely forgot about everything, though (or, if she hasn’t, she’s pretty good at hiding it) because he finds her in a deep conversation with Gina, who’s currently telling her everything she couldn’t seem to remember about the party, half-amused and half-ashamed about it all, especially in front of her Captain who’s listening to them. When she sees him, she simply greets him with a large beam, not seeming the least disturbed.

“Hey, Gina told me you put me to bed yesterday so that I wouldn’t have to stay downstairs, thanks for that,” she tells him when he sits in front of her.

The smile he gives her back isn’t as big as hers, but it’s full of some kind of relief, and just as true. “Anytime,” he simply answers, before putting his attention back on his meal.

(It’s only one year later, when they’re back to one of those weekends of theirs, as a couple this time, that he tells her the truth about what happened that night.

“Yeah,” she simply answers. “I kinda remembered too, to be honest. But it seems that we finally found each other, at last,” she jokes as she presses a bit more against his side now that they’re the only two people left on the couch, the others already having far gone to sleep, and she gently puts her lips on his in a loving kiss.)


	19. Claustrophobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-show. Jake and Amy are stuck in the elevator, and that's how Jake learns about Amy's claustrophobia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao I wrote this like... about a month ago? And then completely forgot about it before today.
> 
> I shamelessly started writing it at work because I'm slightly claustrophobic myself and the elevator we HAD to use there was so tiny and stopped working for realz once... Thankfully I wasn't the one stuck in it, otherwise I would have lost it :')
> 
> Anyways, now it's finished so I thought I could share since I found it again haha! Btw thank you so much guys for the kudos and all, that means a lot <3

Jake learns about Amy's claustrophobia the hard way.

It's a Tuesday morning, almost a year after she arrived at the Nine-Nine, and for the first time since that day, they're taking the elevator up to their bullpen together – usually when he comes in, she's already well seated at her desk and reading over some paperwork, or patiently waiting for their morning briefing to start in said briefing room.

But for some bizarre reason, today Jake is on time at work – and even  _early_. He should have known then, the minute he opened his eyes wide awake almost an hour before his alarm was supposed to go off and unable to go back to sleep despite his several attempts, that something would go wrong during his morning.

(Though, in hindsight, wrong turned out pretty well in the end.)

"Hold the elevator, please!" A voice calls as the doors are about to close before him, and Jake quickly pushes the button to prevent the engine from leaving. He watches as Amy rushes inside then, thanking him between two heavy breaths, having run not to miss the elevator before she eventually looks up at him.

"Peralta?" she exclaims, recognising her colleague, and frowns in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Clearly, she didn't expect to see  _him_  in there.

"Same thing as I've done for the past years: going to work," he jokingly answers – which makes her roll her eyes, not amused.

"No, I mean – what are you doing here  _now_? It's not even 9 yet. I don't think I ever saw you arrive on time at work once since I'm here, and it's almost been a year."

"I know, it's quite impressive, huh?" Jake simply grins in return, feeling proud of himself, when it was obvious from Amy's tone she was judging him.

She sighs, defeated. She chooses to ignore his remark and not to reply with anything of her own. The ride up their bullpen is silent for a while then, with the two detectives standing next to each other in complete, somewhat awkward silence, eyes stuck in front of themselves and never exchanging even a glance once.

That is, until the elevator suddenly makes a strange, creaking noise followed by an uneven movement of the engine. While Jake doesn't seem too much disturbed, the woman instinctively comes and reaches for the first thing she can hold onto: his arm, squeezing hard on his bicep, startled by the unexpected move.

" _Outch_ ," he lets out in pain as he turns to face his colleague before letting his gaze fall on her fingers on him.

There's something about the way her hand curls around his arm, her knuckles starting to turn white with the  _hard_  pressure she exercises on his muscle, that weirdly turns him on, the pain not being as unbearable as he thought, but he quickly locks this thought deep inside his mind, never to think of again.

(To think of years later, when he finds himself in bed with that woman he once only saw as a slightly annoying colleague and turned into  _the love of his life_.)

"Relax," he mocks her when he looks back up at her, meeting with wide-open, scared brown eyes. She immediately loosens her grip at his word, as if coming back from a trance and only now realising her move, and offers him a small apologetic smile in return. "It's super old – it does that all the time. Nothing to worry about."

He shrugs, but that explanation doesn't calm Amy down. Especially because, just a few seconds later, the sound happens again, and this time the elevator stops altogether.

"Is  _this_  something we shouldn't worry about either?" she asks, truly panicking this time – her voice hits a pitch higher than usual as she speaks –, though she still manages to restrain herself last minute from grabbing his arm again.

"I don't know," Jake acknowledges. Something shifts in her eyes as she stares at him, so he quickly adds, "But I'm sure we'll be fine, and it'll work again soon."

With that comment, he pushes the button to their floor once more, hoping it will make it move back up, but one second of waiting quickly turns into twenty and nothing happens. He then tries the emergency button to let someone know there are people stuck in there and get some help, but again, no one on the other end of the line picks up.

"Damn, just when I was going to be early!" he tries to crack a joke, which doesn't amuse his colleague. On the contrary, when he takes a deeper look at her, who hasn't said another word since her question right after the engine stopped, he notices she looks terrified, breathing loudly and shortly with her eyes fixed on the doors.

"I –… I can't stay in here…" She eventually speaks, though it's barely a whisper. Her statement sounds very final too, and more like saying her thoughts out loud than actually talking to the man standing next to her.

"Why? Nothing bad will happen if we're late, y'know. Technically, we're not even late, since we're already in the building," Jake teases her again – the only way he knows and can think of reaction right now, never having had to deal with this side of the usually strong and competitive Amy before –, but it still fails at making her at least smile.

"What?" The female detective finally turns around and watches him with her brows furrowed. It's clear she wasn't listening to him before, so caught up in her trance, she almost forgot she wasn't alone in there. His colleague carefully studies her. He doesn't understand what she's so upset – more like  _scared_ , even – about.

They're just stuck in an elevator, after all. It can happen to everyone. For sure someone will come and help them soon.

"Are you okay?" His voice is softer when he asks her.

Amy takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second to try and regain some composure before she locks them with his again. "Sorry, I'm just… very claustrophobic. Being stuck in there makes me freak out."

"Oh."

There's not a hint of amusement left in Jake's tone now, only concern. "Is there… something I can do to help?" he kindly offers before he adds, unable to keep the comment for himself, "Other than giving you my arm to crush, if possible." This time, though, the woman lets out a small, light chuckle, heart warming a little in her chest.

She didn't know her always-teasing (mostly her, it seemed, and this from not long after their first encounter), often childish colleague had a soft, caring spot in him. Too bad she's too close to a panic attack to be able to completely linger into it and appreciate it as she should.

"Sorry about that too," she apologises, meaning it. She then lets herself fall to the floor and looks up at him, taking his offer. "Can you… sit with me, please?"

Jake obliges immediately, taking a seat by her side, though making sure he leaves enough space between their bodies so that she wouldn't feel too oppressed – thankfully the elevator is big enough for them not to have to squeeze too close next to one another.

They remain silent at first, the male detective waiting for his colleague to lead the conversation as she wants to while Amy tries to even her breathing.

"You must think I'm stupid," she sighs after a while, her gaze lowered towards the floor, unable to meet his own. She doesn't like being seen as vulnerable like this, especially from this partner she's in a constant competition with, she who always tries to prove she's tough.

"Why?" Jake seems confused.

"Because of this. Me freaking out over us being stuck in an elevator. That's ridiculous, I know."

"Well, you're the one who saw me run away when I saw that bee turning around us the other day –  _that_ 's ridiculous," the man laughs as an attempt to cheer her up – which it does since she looks up and smiles at him. "I mean, we all have fears," he goes on with his explanation. "That doesn't make you less of a badass. You're still the same cop who took a murderer down last week after you chased him down nine stairs. That was pretty dope."

Amy's smile grows wider, softer, as she fondly looks at her colleague. She really likes this new side of him he's letting show this morning, in the intimacy of this elevator.

"Thanks, Jake." It's not often she calls him by his first name, but right now, as they truly connect for the first time, she feels like he deserves it.

After that they keep chatting for a while, with Jake trying to distract her and make her forget where they are, sharing stories about their lives and attempting at making her laugh. Amy quickly understands that his voice and tales calm her down, feeling her anxiety attack cool down in her chest, concentrating on learning more about this man.

They couldn't tell how long they remain there, but eventually, without a warning, the elevator makes another sound and starts working again, startling the both of them, who were stuck deep in a conversation, arguing over some silly thing. On instinct, Amy reaches for Jake's hand, squeezing it between her own.

"Sorry," she quickly lets go of it when she realises her gesture, cheeks turning red in shamefulness.

"Don't be," the male detective reassures her with a gentle beam and, when he's back on his feet, offers her his hand again for her to grab. She takes it and stands up as well just before the doors open at their floor, and they find themselves face-to-face with the man who was probably in charge of repairing it as well as the rest of their squad.

When their colleagues ask them of what happened, and Charles's gaze curiously and suspiciously switches from one to the other, Amy's sure that Jake will blur it all out, sharing her fear with everyone in the room now that she doesn't feel oppressed anymore and he can mock her without feeling too bad about it.

It's too good an occasion for him to pass on, she thinks.

But, to much of her surprise, he doesn't, simply relaying the facts as they were, joking about his  _own_  condition. "The world wasn't ready for me to arrive early at work, it seems."

That's why, when the attention is drawn away from them and they're back at their desks, she watches him from behind her computer and smiles softly. "Thank you," she tells him and doesn't have to say more for him to understand what it's about. He only nods in return before putting his gaze back on his screen.

He can't help but add with a grin, though, not bothering to look back at her. "Don't think that means I won't bring that up again between us any chance I get, though."

She only lets out a chuckle at this –  _there_ 's the man she knows.

(And truly appreciates, deep down.)


	20. Dancing Through Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy's about to give birth and, to help induce labour, Jake and her doctor try to make her dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally watched episode 2x03 of The Bold Type yesterday night and when I saw the scene where Dr Ben makes that pregnant woman dance to help induce labour... I knew I had to write something similar for Peraltiago. So here it is haha.
> 
> If you guys don't watch The Bold Type, you NEED to do it asap. This show is absolutely everything, so good on so many levels :')

“Come on, babe! It’s fun, you’ll see.”

Amy watches, rather sceptical, as her husband and doctor move in rhythm in front of her to the sound of music the latter put in the hospital room she’s been occupying for awhile now, their eyes stuck on her and Jake’s hands stretched in front of him and towards her, inviting her to join the dance. Her water broke already, and her contractions are close to one another, but she’s still not dilated enough for her labour to start, hence the use of this method to try and speed it up.

She  _knows_  it’s a good, natural way of helping induce labour – at this point, she thinks she knows everything she has to know about pregnancy and giving birth, after spending months reading about the topic ever since she learned she was expecting – and she  _did_  say she wanted her baby to get out naturally, but right now, while she sits on this tiny bed with her hands stroking her prominent, currently very hurtful stomach, she’s not so sure she wants to ridicule herself like this anymore. She’s never had a good sense of rhythm, and it’s clearly not when she can’t even see her feet anymore, hidden below her round belly, that she’ll suddenly get better at it.

But then, seeing how hesitant she’s being, Jake suddenly approaches her, taking both her hands in his while singing to her –  _Come on Amy, dance with me to get out baby!_  – and she has no other choice than to stand up and follow his lead, sighing in disagreement only for the form while letting out a chuckle at his silly words.

Never letting go of his grip on her, he starts making her move with him, a huge grin lighting up his face as he happily spins her around the room to the sound of the music. Quickly then, Amy gets caught up in the game, her husband’s joy contagious, a similar beam spreading across her own features, unable to retain a laugh when she thinks about the scene they must be showing right now.

They soon end up having so much fun together, they don’t even see nor hear their doctor leave the room, telling the nurse in charge of the pregnant woman to let him know when it’s time for him to do his work, seeing that Jake already takes great care of the ‘dancing part’ of the job and they don’t need him presently, leaving them some privacy.

For a while the couple goes on moving around to the rhythm of catchy songs, until tiredness takes over Amy’s body, her breaths loud and short. Jake quickly puts on a slower music then, before he gets back to his wife and immediately encircles her waist with his hands while her own find their rightful place behind his neck. Like this, they settle in a slow, gentle pace, with their foreheads touching and eyes closed to better appreciate the moment.

“Can you believe this is it? In a few hours now, we'll be three of us,” the man dreamily whispers into the sergeant's ear, his heart pounding with bliss in his chest at the thought of it and a smile curling up the corners of his mouth as he tenderly skims her skin through her medical coat. They've never been closer to being parents than they are now, dancing around in this hospital room.

“Yeah,” Amy simply answers, too overwhelmed with feelings to say more, playing with the few strands of hair on the back of her husband's neck, concentrating on keeping her breathing even and fight the increasing pain.

It doesn't take long after that before the method works and the doctor has to be called again, labour having started for real this time and that, a few hours later indeed, the couple welcomes a little girl into their family.

(They can’t help but find it quite funny, when they learn with time that their daughter  _loves_  dancing, always asking for her father to put on some music in their apartment and climbing on his feet, her tiny hands wrapped inside his own while Jake makes her spin around the room just like he did his mother to help her go out in front of a cheering Amy as she watches the pair in pure joy.)


	21. Johnny and Dora and Baby Make Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy are undercover as a couple on a mission, with her persona being pregnant. Or is it just playing pretend?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little something inspired by an ask sent to @fourdrinkamy on Tumblr, because I love pregnancy/baby fics a bit too much and the idea was too cute not to be written down haha.

Sitting in front of Amy, the both of them having dinner at a restaurant, pretending to be other people on a date while undercover to bring down some perp, Jake gets a sense of déjà-vu.

They've already been in such a position, a few years back, when his partner and he became Johnny and Dora for a night, a newly-engaged couple coming to celebrate the joyous event at the place where they supposedly had their first date. They've already been in such a position several times, to be honest – acting like a couple to help their case and arrest yet another criminal.

The night they played Johnny and Dora remains the most iconic time of all for them, though, pushing them to acknowledge their feelings and get their relationship to another level, the start of something beautiful – their greatest love story.

But, despite the obvious similarities between their past mission and this one – they even brought their personas back to life, now freshly married after a (rather long) engagement period and celebrating their one-month union, for the sake of it –, some  _crucial_  things have changed, ever since that 'date' they shared.

Indeed, what is different, now, is that Jake doesn't need to hesitate, when their criminal's girlfriend asks them about what made them realise they were ‘the one’ for each other – he can rant about how great his wife is without fear of sounding too suspicious to her ears that he's totally head over heels for her, because she already knows that and even  _shares_  those same feelings towards him.

What is different, now, is that they don't have to come up with lame excuses, when the other woman wants to see their rings, because they're already proudly shining on their left ring fingers, in a matching form and golden colour.

What is different, now, is that they have real stories to tell, because what is different, now, is that they might be playing a game, but in the end, much like these two characters they invented, they're  _really_  married too.

(Have been for more than a year, even, on their part.)

"Here, let's drink to your first-month anniversary, hoping for many more to come!" Their perp comes up to fill their glasses with the expensive champagne he bought for his own date when Jake and Amy are done relating Johnny and Dora's (their own) perfect honeymoon. The sergeant watches him do with her mouth half-open and eyes growing bigger, eyes stuck on the bottle of alcohol, suddenly feeling nervous.

Eventually, when he reaches her own glass, she stops him from pouring anything inside with a gesture of her hand. "Not me, I'm pregnant," she quickly finds an excuse not to have to drink anything.

She offers him an apologetic smile before turning her gaze towards Jake, who's watching her with confusion in his eyes. He doesn't say a thing, though – doesn't have the time to, anyway, since the criminal's girlfriend is soon to react to this new piece of information given to her. "Really?!" She squeals, apparently very excited for the couple. "Congratulations! Is it your first one?"

"Yes," Amy is the one who answers, her hand coming to cover her (still very flat) belly instinctively. "It's like… the gift we brought back for ourselves from our honeymoon," she jokes, but there's something in the way she exaggerates her laugh that sounds weird – stressed out, almost panicking –, which doesn't go unnoticed by her husband.

Nonetheless, not to blow up their cover with his concern, he plays that game she came up with (probably because she didn't want the alcohol to prevent her from doing her job right, he figured, especially knowing how spacey 1-drink Amy can be) and replies to all of the woman's questions – and she seems to have a lot, getting really invested in the couple's story, having a child of her own.

With every new sentence he lets out, sharing about the blessing of pregnancy and how a new addition to their family will change their lives for the better, the man can sense a new warmth taking over his heart.

He knows all of this is fake, that  _Johnny and Dora_  are expecting, not  _Jake and Amy_  but still, these baby talks, as if it were really happening to them, get to him quite easily.

(Deep in the back of his mind, he can't help but wish they were true too.)

"So… What's your take on the child's sex? Any intuition yet?"

The question is for the both of them, but from the way she stares at  _him_ , it's clear the stranger wants his answer first. In front of him, Amy's gaze is piercing through his core as well, waiting for his reaction.

Of course, they had that kind of conversation in the past – numerous times, even –, coming to the conclusion that they will have children together someday, yes, but not right now, the both of them being too focused on their career for that. In their fantasy world, though, when picturing themselves with their progeny, they never shared their preferences about the sex of their very first child.

They always assumed they would end up having both anyways.

"I–… I don't know," he says then, caught off guard, and a bit disturbed by both women's eyes on him to think correctly.

His wife seems somehow disappointed by such a vague reply, her beam fading a little at the corners of her mouth – not for long, though, instantly brightening back up when it's her turn to share her opinion on the matter. "A girl." She doesn't hesitate for one second, as if she's thought about it a lot lately, not once leaving Jake's sight as she speaks.

"I mean, I don't know because… I don't care," he suddenly feels the urge to add to his first comment, shrugging and looking at his wife when he does so. "Whether we have a girl or a boy, I'll just be happy to have a child of our own. Y'know, a mini-us to love and take care of." Watching him back, Amy can feel her eyes start to water at his heartfelt confession.

_He's gonna be the best dad ever,_  she's so sure of it, her fingers gently and discreetly brushing her stomach over her shirt, overwhelmed by the words she just heard.

Conversations go on for a little longer, until their perp decides it's time for him and his girlfriend to leave, abandoning their new encounter after congratulating them one more time on everything.

"Great job there,  _mommy_. Perfect cover to stay professional and sober on the field," Jake teases his wife when they're all alone, and she simply offers him a small smile in return.

_Yeah, just a cover…_  she thinks.

They wait for several minutes before following their criminal outside, where they eventually manage to arrest him a few streets down the restaurant, having gathered all the information they needed.

Once back at the precinct, Amy excuses herself as soon as they enter the building, asking her husband to take care of putting the man behind bars and start on the paperwork without her while she rushes away without even waiting for his answer after telling him she had 'some quick, important stuff to do first.' When fifteen minutes pass and she's still not coming back, the detective starts wondering what's happening.

He abandons his paperwork then, and goes straight to her floor, in search of some answers to her whereabouts. "Have you seen Sergeant Santiago?" He approaches one of her officers.

"She came by a few minutes ago. I think I saw her enter the archives room."

Jake frowns, a bit confused – what's in there she could need right now? –, but doesn't make any comment, simply thanks the man before going straight to the location. He catches her seated on one of the huge cardboard boxes stuck there, with her head hanging low, intently staring at something she's holding in one of her hands.

When she hears someone coming in, she quickly hides it away, then lets out a relieved sigh when she looks up and recognises who's there.

"Hi," the detective approaches her, meeting her level and looking at her with a smile while taking the hand lying on her lap in his. "What are you doing here?"

"I… was just trying to think of the best way of telling you the news," she confesses. Her eyes are drawn onto him, mysterious and shining, her fingers curling harder around what she's hiding behind her back.

"What news?" Jake doesn't seem to understand what's going on with her. "Is there something wrong?" He studies her carefully, worry starting to build up in his core.

"Quite the opposite." Amy is quick to reassure him, her smile turning into a true beam when she hands him what she was holding: a pregnancy test, showing in black, clear letters the word  _ **Pregnant**_.

Staring at it, the man by her side remains speechless for a while, processing the whole revelation, feeling his heart clench in his chest in pure joy with every new passing second. It only takes him a moment before his eyes are back on his wife, already filling with tears. "You are…?" He's unable to finish his sentence, too overwhelmed with feelings, his gaze switching from the woman's face to her stomach.

"I am," she confirms, sensing her own eyes starting to water too.

Jake doesn't need more words to pull her in a tight hug then, both their tears falling onto the other's shoulder while they hold onto each other, happier than they've ever been in their whole life in that instant. Eventually, the detective draws away, only to kiss her breathlessly, his hands coming to cup her face and thumbs brushing her wet cheeks, keeping his forehead resting on hers when they part.

"So, earlier at the restaurant…" He trails off, talking through his never-disappearing grin again after a while spent in comforting silence. "You weren't playing pretend?"

He feels her answer before he hears it, shaking her head against his, her own smile growing wider. "No. That was real," she tells him. "Well, I wasn't  _sure_  yet since I only took the test when we came back, but… I had some doubts, yeah."

Jake lets out a content sigh after that, his chest filled with bliss. "We're gonna be parents…" he whispers in awe, still feeling like this is some kind of dream – a  _perfect_  dream.

"We're gonna be parents," his wife confirms, just as much shaken up as he is.

They stay like this for quite some time, wrapped up in each other and enjoying the intimate moment until they have to let go – they're still on duty, after all. But, as they pass the door of the archives room hand-in-hand after standing up from their spot, before joining their colleagues, Jake stops in his tracks, turning to face Amy, his blissful grin turned malicious, daring even, now. "So, you bet it's gonna be a girl?"

He doesn't have to say more for her to understand where he's going with that, a matching expression popping up in her own eyes. "Yeah," she replies, holding her free hand in front of her.

"Okay, let's bet for a boy then." He shakes it between his own fingers, his playful gaze never leaving hers.

(In the end,  _she_  wins, but Jake couldn't care less about that – he's too happy to welcome his little girl into the world, loving her so much already as he carefully holds her against his chest, to think about that silly bet they made months ago.)


	22. Let the Bells of the Nine-Nine Chime Out Your Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy's wedding seen through Charles's eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by a line from @elsaclack's [last piece](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756808/chapters/34123511) of her (amazing) [John/Daisy characters story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756808/chapters/34122207) talking about him helping to put Jake and Amy's wedding together. It made me want to write about Charles's point of view on it, while he was working on the decorations and during the ceremony.
> 
> Title is a line from an episode of The Office ('Dunder Mifflin' being replaced with 'Nine-Nine' here for obvious reasons.)

_"I got a lot to work– lot of work… Wha! Give me a half hour! Whoa!"_

* * *

It takes exactly 28 minutes and 9 seconds for Charles to get everything done.

28 minutes and 9 seconds during which he doesn't take one break, not even to breathe, running from one place to another in the middle of the usually calm precinct at such a late hour, gathering people together, making sure everything is _perfect_ for the most perfect couple. He already ruined one venue, he needs this new one to look absolutely stunning and make them forget about the awful day they had because of him.

His life depends on it.

He's going full-Nana Boyle on the poor beat cops he found on his way and hired for the task, he's well aware of that, yelling at them when he sees the chairs they're putting in front of the precinct aren't perfectly lined up and making them re-do everything from the start until it looks perfectly like what he has in mind, but right now he couldn't care less.

He couldn't care less if he makes some enemies tonight – he'll find a way to make up for them later, thanking them for their help and offering them some apology-food.

(Though, in truth, he thinks _they_ should thank him for allowing them to be part of putting together the most important wedding in America– nay, the whole world– who cares about the Royal Wedding anyways?)

He couldn't care less because, after all this time rooting for them from Day 1 of their meeting, witnessing their love story grow stronger each day, Jake and Amy are finally getting married.

And he needs it to be _perfect_.

He carefully watches as Officers Jones and Leroy tie some lights he found in the storage room from one building to another, enlightening the scene where soon enough both the future bride and groom will be standing face-to-face, exchanging their vows. His heart clenches in his chest at the simple thought of it, already knowing he'll be a sobbing mess when the moment happens.

As his eyes wander around the place, scanning it to make sure everything is going according to plan and no one is messing with anything, he notices something's missing somewhere; the paved floor in-between the two rows of chairs, where Amy will walk down to the podium where Jake and Holt will be waiting for her to join them and let the ceremony start, feels too grey, too empty.

Not joyous enough for such an important event.

Quickly, he rushes back inside the building, and towards the evidence room, in search of something, _anything_ that could be used as a carpet, until he finds _it_. A pile of shredded paper, put away in a huge cardboard box should it be needed again someday, reminder of that Seamus Murphy case which threatened Kevin's (and later, Jake's and Holt's as well) lives a few months ago.

The flash of a scene suddenly comes back to his mind when he lays his gaze on it, and a smile spreads across his face at the memory.

He sees Jake's hand curling gently around his fiancée's hair when he's finally back at the precinct and greets her after yet another forced separation, taking away one of those remaining pieces of paper still stuck in there despite her change of clothes, an amused beam covering his features when he asks about it. He sees the same light expression in her own eyes and the heartfelt chuckle that escapes her lips when she explains everything to him.

He sees their hands reaching for their twin, fingers curling perfectly together, and hears the _I missed you_ and _I love you_.

He remembers all of this, and so many other small moments they shared inside this same precinct, under his and the rest of their squad's eyes. And now, they're getting _married_.

Wiping out a tear from his cheek, he takes the box into his arms and urges outside, fully emptying it in a perfect line going from the entrance of the building to the altar. Everything else has been put together already. Even Holt is there now, wearing his Captain uniform and waiting on his designated spot as the wedding officiant.

The detective takes a moment to look at the place one last time, then stares down at his watch with a content sigh.

 _28 minutes and 9 seconds._ It took exactly 28 minutes and 9 seconds for Charles to get everything done, and now's the time to go search for Jake and Amy.

He climbs into the elevator, squealing, unable to remain still as he not so patiently waits for it to stop and open at the right floor, then doesn't spare one second when he finally runs out of the engine.

_"It's wedding time!"_

He's feeling both very excited and very nervous when he opens the exit doors of the precinct, the main couple of the night on his feet, ready to show them his (and half of the night squad's) work – he truly wishes they'll like what he did with the little he had in the small amount of time he got to do it. He'll never forgive himself otherwise.

But then in his back, he hears an echoing surprised gasp, and it partially calms him down – he still needs confirmation that he did them right, though.

"I really hope you like it. If you don't, I will _kill myself_."

"Charles, it looks amazing."

"It's beautiful."

His friends' words instantly warm his heart, worry and guilt about ruining their day instantly flying away.

"How can I ever repay you?"

Charles doesn't need to think for a second to answer Amy's question, the thought always lingering somewhere in the back of his mind. "Get pregnant! Use your body to give the world more Jake!"

Really, he's not sure there's something he waits for more than the day the couple will announce they're expecting – it would be like his wildest dream coming true.

(Given how reacted to their engagement, though, he's a little afraid he might just burst completely when he'll hear the words _'I'm pregnant'_ coming from the newly-graded sergeant's mouth – still, it'll be worth it.)

After that, Jake takes him away to the front of the scene, where he's supposed to seat in the very front row not to miss anything from the ceremony. As soon as Mlepclaynos starts playing his music, and Amy slowly walks down the aisle to reach her very-soon-to-be husband, he can feel his eyes start to water and his heart fill with emotion. _This is it. The moment he rightly predicted eight years ago._

He's never been happier to be right about something than he is about this.

The feeling clenching his chest doesn't leave him once throughout the whole ceremony. It becomes harder with every sentence the two let out to keep his excitement inside, especially when time comes for them to exchange their rings and, when Holt finally declares them married, he can't contain his happy squeal any longer.

_Jake and Amy are married. America's dream couple has officially been united._

The only thing preventing him from fainting at the overwhelming thought is that he'd hate himself if he missed just one second of the event.

As the newlyweds go back down the aisle hand-in-hand, glowing in bliss and wearing the same grin on their faces, all of his friends and colleagues clapping for them, Charles suddenly takes his phone out of his pocket, searching for something inside of it. Through speakers, the sound of bells instantly come ringing around the venue, celebrating the couple's union and making them frown in surprise.

They both turn in his direction, but the man only smiles a knowing smile in return through his tears, now fully sobbing as he watches them move away.

He heard these wedding bells all those years ago when he witnessed Jake and Amy's first meeting, and now they're finally chiming _for realz_.

(Later at Shaw's, when he comes to congratulate them once again and takes them in his arms, full of emotions, the couple of the night doesn't have the heart to correct him when he tells them, "We did it, guys. We're married." They simply exchange a half-amused, half-disgusted look behind his back before tightening the embrace, grateful for their friend and how he saved their wedding.)


	23. Of Sunscreen and Ice Cream (And a Bet)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake, Amy and their daughter and some quiet time at the pool during their holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this like a week ago on my way back to my weekend away after seeing a cute family playing in the pool and who inspired me this lmao. So yeah, this is just some fluffy summer vacation time for the Santiago Peralta family because why not.
> 
> (I'm sorry, I'm really getting worst and worst with titles xD)

As much as Amy loves her job (and she does –  _a lot_ ), she really loves being on holidays as well; especially when they consist in spending some quality time with her husband and young daughter, doing nothing else than just rest by the pool of their hotel all morning, enjoying the bright weather and a good book, and occasionally joining the two most important people in her life into the water.

Usually, she wouldn't like this type of relaxing vacation too much – she's more the kind of person who plans a lot of activities ahead to fill her trips away and not miss anything the place she’s visiting has to offer – but, being presently 8 months pregnant and her doctor having told her she needs to go easy on herself if she doesn’t want the baby to come out too soon, she doesn't really have a choice. She's well decided of making the most of her quiet holidays, then, always finding it better to stay lying in a deck chair watching Ana and her father play around than remain in a bed at home, alone.

What she doesn't love, though, is to see said Ana and her father rush towards the pool the minute they're out of the clothes on top of their swimsuits, both too impatient to go inside the water to waste any more second.

"Aren't you guys forgetting something?" the woman asks with a shake of her head and a severe look on her face as she watches them run away. The sound of her voice in their backs doesn't go unnoticed, making the two immediately stop in their tracks. They exchange a quick glance, wearing a matching confused expression with their brows furrowed and half-open mouths before they turn back in her direction in a same, synch move. This makes Amy's own frown soften, until they're suddenly back at her side and pulling her in a tight embrace, covering her face in kisses and whispered  _I love you_ s, surprising her.

As quickly as they approached her, they draw away from her after just a few seconds and don't add anything else when they act like they're going to leave her side again, persuaded this was what the woman meant with her words.

But it's not – and she's so startled by Jake and their daughter's sudden burst of love towards her, she almost doesn't have the time to say so before they rush back towards the pool. "Okay, that was nice, but not what I was talking about." She lets out a warm chuckle as she speaks, which soon turns into a real laughter when she sees their smiles turn into another same confused gaze in her direction. There's truly not a doubt about Jake's being the father of the little girl – not only did she inherit his curly raven hair, she took a lot of his expressions and ways of reaction to things as well.

(Not that there was a doubt to have in the first place, though.)

"I was talking about putting some sunscreen on before you go into the pool." She takes out one of the small tubes she brought with them as she further explains herself. Both concerned parties let out an annoying sigh at that, and Ana's the first one to complain with a pout on her face.

"But, mommy, we're going in the water!" The child tries to argue, soon followed by Jake himself.

"Yeah,  _mommy_ , we don't need it right now – it's gonna melt."

Amy does her best to stay serious, rolling her eyes at her husband's comment, though she can't help but feel amused about the two members of her family being on the same page like this. "Jake," she shoots him a severe look – he's supposed to back  _her_  up on this and not make things harder than they already are for their child to agree on putting on some sunscreen and wait before having fun in the pool. "You know that's not how it works, right?"

He gives up then, well aware deep inside that his wife is right, and that it's important Ana (and himself) are protected from the sun. He pauses to think for a second before saying anything, in search of a way to make things easier to get their little girl to concede to their demand without creating a fuss – she can be quite impatient, sometimes –, until the idea eventually pops into his mind.

With a grin, he lowers himself to meet her daughter's level. "Hey, Anana, what do you think we all make a bet, huh?" He looks up at Amy, seeking her approval before going further, which she easily gives him with a bright smile of her own covering her face, her whole attention drawn onto him already, the competitive side of her having woken up in her core at the man's only use of the word 'bet.'

It's something that runs in the family, after all – a part of them their daughter clearly inherited as well, they discovered that soon enough.

(It helped them avoid a lot of tantrums in the past, to be honest, turning every possible boring task into such a game.)

"What's the prize?" The woman asks, curious.

Jake smiles at her before looking back down at the child. "First one done with having sunscreen put on their whole body gets an ice cream later? If I win, mommy buys me one but if you guys win, I'm buying both of you one. Deal?" He raises up his hand, waiting for Ana to clap it with hers. She doesn't hesitate long before doing it, her pouting face now completely shining with amusement, the beam curling up her features so bright, it shows her small dimples.

"Deal!" she excitedly replies, going to stand in front of her mother without any complaint this time, even rushing her to start covering her little body with the precious lotion when she sees her shaking hands with her husband and start talking to him, challenging, a new glint lighting up her brown eyes.

"Good luck," Amy tells him. "I've mastered the art of putting sunscreen since I was 8. We're gonna crush you – I'm quick  _and_  efficient. And remember: the winner is the one who gets their  _whole_  body done."

Her smug grin is so huge now, it makes Jake realise something he didn't think about before making this new bet. "Wait, how am I supposed to do my back alone?"

"I don't know, son. You figure this out," the woman teases him, then finally puts her whole attention back on her daughter, who's getting impatient, unable to stand still. "Ready, Anana?"

"Yessss!" the girl is quick to exclaim, squealing even more in excitement when she hears the tube of sunscreen open in her back.

"Three, two, one, GO!" Amy counts when her husband has done the same with his own tube.

It only takes her a few minutes to finish covering her daughter's body with the creamy product – she's so quick even that, in the end, Jake doesn't even need to wonder about putting sunscreen on his back alone anymore, because he still has a few other uncovered parts of him he has to take care of first when Amy and Ana exchange a high five and do their (weird) victory dance together.

"I want chocolate, and vanilla, and strawberry– no, hazelnut, and–…" The child starts reciting flavours she'd like to get for her ice cream to her father when she's eventually calmed down and stopped moving around, not having forgotten about the prize that would be offered to the winner – or, in this case, winner _s_.

"Easy, tiger!" He cuts her off with a laugh. "First, you'll have to choose only one flavour. And second, we're not getting it right now anyway – it's too early."

Ana pouts in return, a little bit upset, but it doesn't remain long on her face, soon replaced with a malicious expression. "If I get two scoops, I can give you one." She wants to trade with him, playing with her hands as she speaks and looking at him with puppy eyes, bouncing on her feet, trying to get to him this way.

This time, it's Amy's turn to laugh, listening to the conversation from the side.

"You sneaky little girl." Her father smiles when he comes to ruffle the child's hair with his hand. "We'll see about that later, okay? In the meantime, how about you start playing while mommy puts sunscreen on my back and I put some on hers, and then we go into the water together, huh? But don't go too far – we need to always be able to see you."

Ana simply nods, stepping a few feet away, leaving her parents alone. For a short moment, they watch her without a word, smiling at the sight of their baby girl taking some toys out of her bag until Jake finally sits in front of his wife on her deck chair so that she can take care of him while he can still get an eye on their daughter.

"Hey, babe?" He asks after some time spent in silence, with him enjoying the feeling of Amy's hands expertly massaging his back. He sounds rather hesitant when he lets out the words.

"Hmm?" She only hums in return, too caught up in her work to truly say anything.

"Even if I lost the bet, you'll still share your ice cream with me, right? You won't leave me alone with nothing while you guys get your ice cream?"

His voice is full of concern, almost childish, even, which only makes the woman laugh, her palms going still and flat on his body.

"You've heard your daughter," she teases with a grin. "She'll share hers with you if you get her two scoops."

The detective laughs along with her, shaking his head in disbelief and mostly amusement. "What have we created?!" He falsely complains – his daughter really is the most precious thing he holds in his heart (with his wife, obviously). It's true she's a real phenomenon, though – but he shouldn't be surprised.

She's part-him, part-Amy, after all.

They couldn't ask for less of her, then.

"And very soon there will be two of them," the woman dreamily reminds him, looking down at her prominent stomach for a second with a loving smile.

She can't see it from where she stands, but in front of her, a similar beam comes curling up the corners of Jake's mouth at the mention of a second baby growing inside his wife's belly. He doesn't reply with anything right away, until Amy is finally done with covering his back in the lotion and he can turn around, facing her huge stomach and blowing a light kiss on it on his way.

"There will be, yeah." He looks up at her with the brightest grin and knowing look, completely glowing with happiness, to be able to live alongside his  _dream girl_  and see their little family only grow bigger.

She smiles back, getting lost in his shining eyes only for a second before immediately putting her whole attention back on their first daughter, who's still quietly playing with her toys, gently stroking his hair on her way.

Eventually, they trade places, Jake going behind Amy so that he can quickly put some sunscreen on her back before Ana gets tired of waiting and he can take her into the pool with him after a last press of his lips against his wife's. "Let's go play in the water!" He grabs the girl on his way along with her water armbands, making her laugh heartedly as he tickles her while holding her.

Once alone, Amy finishes covering her body with sunscreen, her eyes never leaving sight of these two people she loves so much, her heart warming up in her chest, only looking down when she starts rubbing her belly with her creamy hands. "I get why you'd like to come out early." She smiles when she starts talking at the life growing inside of her. "You want to meet them too, huh? They're truly the best, you'll see. I'm so lucky to have you all."

A kick answers her words, making her beam brighter.

Even when she's finally all done and ready, the woman doesn't go inside the water just yet, enjoying the view that Jake and Ana offer from afar, her child's laughter breaking into the air in front of her father's silliness while they play together – it's a good thing there's not many other people around them yet, with all the noise they make and the waves they create inside the pool.

Quickly though, she's interrupted in her contemplation and invited to tag along when her girl starts calling her. "Mommy, come in the water with us!" She smiles and waves at her mother, and the latter doesn't have the heart to refuse, despite the shiver running down her spine the second she puts a first foot inside – the temperature's still too cold for her.

"It's not cold anymore when you're inside," Ana tries to convince her, rushing her father to bring her closer to the woman so that she can grab her hand and make her follow her to prove her point. Jake doesn’t argue and is even soon to do the same, encircling his wife’s waist with his arm from her other side, making her shiver more at his wet, cool touch on her skin. He only shoots her an amused grin when she complains, and the little family finally ends up all having fun together in the water, making the most of one of their last moments as the three of them before a fourth member makes her way inside of it.

(When later, Jake keeps his promise and gets his girls their rightly won ice cream, even giving in and buying two scoops for his daughter, he doesn't have to ask for them to share their prize with him. Because after all, in the end, no matter the silly games they can engage in, they're all playing in the same team. The 'Santiago Peralta' team. And it's a pretty awesome one, if you ask them.

The best, even.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the word 'anana' to translate 'pineapple' into Spanish isn't much popular (apparently?) but... idk, I find it kind of cute Jake and his daughter having the same nickname? So that's why I'm making her parents call her that xD


	24. One Wedding and Four Drinks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy's wedding celebration at Shaw's, seen through the different stages of Amy's drunkenness scale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this wasn't supposed to ever be written??? I've had the idea in my head for a while now but thought I'd never write it and then yesterday night I came back a little intoxicated myself from celebrating France's victory in the finals of the World Cup and... this happened lmao.
> 
> So yeah I'm sorry this is just some barely edited plotless fluff I apparently needed after such a day :')

One-drink Amy is sitting alone at a booth, her gaze lost in the distance when Jake joins her, putting a quick, sweet peck on her lips before he sits in front of her and starts talking, a grin lighting up his face and his right hand curling around a glass of champagne. She watches him as he speaks, barely registering what he tells her, her eyes scanning his features with a dreamy smile covering her own. She can’t seem to focus on what he has to say, too caught up in her own thoughts about how handsome her  _husband_  is in that tux, and how amazing it is to be able to call him that. She’s the luckiest woman alive, having someone like  _him_ by her side and get to take his name right next to hers.  _Amy Santiago Peralta_ – it truly has a nice ring to it. Her beam turns bigger, brighter with each new thought crossing her mind like that, and in front of her, Jake frowns because though he really likes the way she looks at him, the way she’s  _glowing_ , as if he’s another wonder of this world, as if she just passed another of her so-loved tests, she doesn’t seem to be willing to answer his question anytime soon. “Ames?” he calls her then, but she only hums in return.

“Ames, are you listening to me?” He wonders, which finally takes her out of her trance and makes her blush at the realisation that she’s only been staring all along and has no clue what he’s talking about.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

Jake lets out an amused sigh – he knows her, and thus knows about her drunkenness scale –, shaking his head in fake-disappointment. “Thanks, babe, is this how you plan on treating your new husband?” He jokes, and she rolls her eyes for answer, not bothering saying anything else, simply stealing his drink from his grasp instead and downing it in one.

* * *

Two-drinks Amy is much more talkative and a lot  _louder_  as well. It doesn’t seem to bother Jake, though, despite all the eyes stuck on them as they’re lost in a conversation – on the contrary, he can’t help but look at her with a grin growing bigger and bigger every time his wife yells for the whole bar to know how much she loves him or calls him her husband from the top of her lungs.

He can’t blame the alcohol for making him answer her loudly (he  _is_  quite drunk as well, he has to admit) but when he takes her hands in both of his, he makes sure everyone around them hears the  _I love you so much too, my wife_  he lets out in amusement while marveling at her, before he leans in and kisses her for the umpteenth time this night. He swears her lips feel even better against his ever since they sealed their union a few hours earlier already and can’t seem to want to stop kissing them.

* * *

Three-drinks Amy has been claiming the dancefloor as her own from barely 5 minutes after she downed her third glass of champagne of the night when she eventually leaves it, only to come back a few minutes later taking Jake by the hand and out of his watching point at the counter, leading him in the middle of the room with her. People around them leave them some space when they see them coming and, despite the music truly not being slow-dance appropriate, Amy still wraps her arms around her husband’s neck while his own naturally find their place at her waist. Their foreheads gently bump into each other and they close their eyes as they start moving in silence and shared rhythm, not paying attention to anything else than the other. “This is fun,” Jake eventually lets out in a dreamy whisper, eyes still shut and heart pounding with love in his chest. Amy doesn’t open hers either, but she can easily picture the smile on his face, matching her own, when she hums in agreement.

It  _is_  fun indeed – and nice, and it feels like home, being inside her  _husband_ ’s tight, though ever-so gentle, embrace.

(When they eventually part a few minutes later, she even manages to steal a quick dance with Holt when she complains about not having had her father-daughter dance like she dreamed of it before Jake comes in and saves their boss by offering her another drink.)

* * *

Four-drinks Amy is back in a booth, with Jake and other people by her side this time, and even some others facing them, all members of their squad-slash-family. The moon is shining high outside as it’s getting really late in the night, and the woman barely listens to her friends’ conversations, other thoughts going through her intoxicated mind as she lets her hand wander over her husband’s thigh, squeezing lightly, her nails brushing the skin there over the fabric. Her eyes are locked on his bow tie – she can’t stop thinking about how much she wants to untie it and open the buttons of this white shirt of his. They’re filled with lust when Jake turns to look at her, trying to contain the fire in his own that’s burning his whole body because of what her teasing touch is starting to do to him – he might be completely drunk as well at this point, but he’s conscious enough to remember they’re in a public place and surrounded by all of their close colleagues.

When she scoots closer to his side and whispers some secret, suggestive words into his ear, pressing him to go home – and  _not_  because she’s tired –, he’s quick to meet her request and excuse themselves to their friends, telling them they’re leaving before leading her out by the hand after some  _long_ , last goodbyes. Not even Charles’s remark about them going to  _make babies_  and trying to give them some tips about what to after sex for it to work manages to calm the flame in them down and, the minute they’re out in the empty street, waiting for a cab to bring them home, Amy kisses the breathe out of her husband without a warning, and it takes him all the little remaining clear parts of him to wait until they’re back in their apartment for him to help his wife out of that gorgeous dress of hers.

(It’s only coming full circle, they think, when they’re cuddling in bed later that night, the woman’s hand tracing lazy patterns on Jake’s bare chest, both their gaze stuck dreamily on the ring on her left finger, ending their first night as a  _married_  couple with four-drinks Amy, just like they did on the night of their very first date and found themselves in a similar position afterwards.)


	25. I'll Teach You Everything I Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just like her mother, Jake and Amy's daughter isn't too gifted with dancing skills. Thankfully, just like with her mother, Jake is more than happy to teach the little girl how it's done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just trying to fight my writer's block with some fluffy Peraltiago family moment I started writing weeks ago but never finished until now...

By the time Holt and Kevin decide to (finally) renew their vows after years of talking about it but never getting the chance to do so before this particular day of the anniversary of their encounter, little Ana Santiago Peralta is already 5.

She's supposed to be playing with the other children invited, mostly all of the (ever-growing) Nine-Nine progeny, under Charles's son and Terry's twins supervision, leaving her parents some (so rare, now) time and space to enjoy for themselves, swaying around the dancefloor at a slow pace, wrapped up in a tight, loving embrace with their eyes half-closed and foreheads resting against one another when Cagney suddenly comes and disturbs their quiet moment.

“Your daughter's calling for you,” the girl informs them, wearing an apologetic look on her face when the couple stops still in their movements and turn in her direction, a same frown drawing itself on their own features in confusion.

“What's going on?” they ask in one voice, Jake's hand curling around Amy's waist and hers softly squeezing his shoulder while they stare at their colleague and friend's child, waiting for an answer.

“I don't know,” she acknowledges with a shrug. “We were all dancing together when she just stopped all of a sudden and started crying. We asked her if she hurt herself but she won't answer us, and won't calm down either. She just keeps saying she wants you.”

The two cops don't need more explanation; they exchange a quick, knowing nod then follow Cagney where all the children are gathered together in a corner of the room. They spot their daughter right away, hunched up against a wall in her cute blue dress with Nikolaj in front of her trying to talk to her, her curly raven hair the only visible feature of hers, with her head hidden between her tiny legs.

They slowly approach the pair, stooping down to her level once by their side. Charles's son barely contains his relieved sigh when he stands up, more than happy to leave it to the girl’s parents to take care of the situation by stepping aside and offering the little family some space.

“Hey, Anana,” Amy puts a hand on the child's arm and starts stroking gently when she calls her name once they're all alone. Recognising her mother's voice, the girl immediately looks up at her, showing her redden eyes from having cried too much and her wet, rosy cheeks. The woman feels her heart clench in her chest at the sight – it's always hard, seeing her only child being sad.

“What's wrong, baby?” she tries not to linger too much on that and gently asks, offering a gentle, inviting-to-confess smile.

Ana doesn't reply right away; she throws herself into her mother’s embrace first, in need of a hug, new tears falling onto Amy’s dress until she's calmed down a little. Only then does she draw away and, while the newly-graded Captain softly removes the remaining salty pearls on her face with her hand, she eventually talks, hesitant, barely watching her parents as he does, her voice still filled with tremors.

“Iggy doesn't want to dance with me anymore. She says I'm bad at it and I stepped on her feet and hurt her.”

Tears threaten to leave her shiny brown eyes again when she shuts back her mouth, done with her explanation, her chin trembling slightly.

This time, it's Jake's turn to speak with her, tenderly skimming his thumb over the little girl's cheek, a small smile lighting up the corners of his lips – truth to be told, if it weren't for Ana's sad pout right now, he would be fully laughing at her comment, reminded of another  _bad at dancing, stepping on feet Santiago_. It seems like the ‘like mother, like daughter’ adage is true for these two.

“You know who else was bad at dancing too?” He tells her then, trying to hide his amusement the best he can, not to offend her with his reaction.

Ana shakes her head, clueless.

“Your mom.” The man's fully grinning now, unable to keep it to himself anymore, even more so when he turns to his wife and she shoots him a glare in return.

She can't be mad at him for mocking her like this in front of their daughter for too long, though, because soon enough the girl is looking at her too, and there's not a trace of sadness left on her face, only curiosity, when she asks with a frown, “Really, mommy?”

“Yes,” Amy has no other choice than to admit, remembering that one time all these years ago when her husband, who was still just a friend and colleague at the time, got to witness that she didn't have, indeed, no sense of rhythm  _at all_ in her core.

(Good thing  _he_  knew what they were doing and managed to show her how everything was properly done, making all the stress she was feeling until then go away at once, wrapped up in his arms and moving along with him, eyes locked together and a smile never leaving her features while he expertly led her around the other couples competing against one another that day.)

“But now, thanks to my very expert skills, she's not so bad at it,” he can't help but teasingly brag, a huge beam covering his face when he watches the woman next to him that she soon returns despite herself, chuckling at his words. Jake quickly brings his whole attention back on his daughter, though, and adds, his grin only growing bigger as he talks, “If you'd like, I can teach you too?”

It's all it takes for Ana's face to lit up again, suddenly standing up in excitement at her father's words. “YES!” she enthusiastically answers him, her tiny hand coming to grab his own, wasting no time and already inviting him to join the dancefloor. Her mother lovingly watches them leave her side, her heart filling with bliss at the sight of the two persons she loves the most mingling with the other people already slow dancing together to the song currently playing.

“Okay Anana,” Jake stops in the middle of the room, looking very serious when he bows at the little girl and offers her his hand. “Shall we, m'lady?”

His silly attitude and words make her let out a loud giggle, the sound of it resonating on the walls, and she's still laughing when she dutifully climbs on her father's feet and he starts making her move around.

(Jake perfectly remembers the very first time he made her laugh, those few years ago, when she was only a baby, and how it immediately became their life's goal, with Amy, to hear their daughter laugh as often as possible – it's the best music they've ever come to hear in their entire existence, and they're pretty certain nothing will ever top that. Making their child happy has truly become their #1 priority, ever since she was born in this fine June afternoon of 2020.)

For a while he goes on like this, making Ana joyfully turn and turn on the crowded dancefloor, showing her the moves, the both of them wearing a huge amused grin on their faces as they foolishly dance around. From time to time the girl looks away and waves at her mother, who's still watching them from afar, never leaving their sight, shooting her some  _Look, mommy, I'm doing it!_  with pride, making both her parents chuckle, her visible recovered happiness warming their hearts.

“Can I have a dance too?” Amy suddenly appears next to them after some time, deciding she's been staring for too long and wanting to be part of the fun as well now, gently stroking her girl's hair before holding out her hands in her direction when both she and Jake stop in their tracks upon the woman’s arrival. He offers his wife a soft smile matching her own and lets go of his daughter, who's quick to agree to the invitation and jump off her father’s feet to climb on her mother's instead.

Jake doesn’t stay aside for too long – he comes to wrap his arms around the two loves of his life, taking Ana in-between her parents’ embrace, and the little family soon begins to happily dance together among the other couples.

(Later in the night, the child even manages to steal a dance to one of the two men of the day, pretending she wants to show him what her ‘daddy taught her earlier’ but in fact quickly falling asleep in her ‘grampa Ray’’s arms, like she calls him, rocked by his slow movements, her parents watching them while back at dancing alone together too, tears prickling in their shining eyes at the sight of their daughter and ex-Captain sharing such an adorable moment together.)


	26. When Everything Falls Apart (Your Arms Hold Me Together)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4x12 missing moment: Jake arrives at the scene of Gina’s accident after Amy calls him for comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewatched all of B99 a few weeks ago and while rewatching 4x12, I thought about what happened right after Gina’s accident – because it must have been quite traumatizing for Amy and Charles to see her being hit by a bus like this.
> 
> So yeah, this one’s a little bit of angst haha contrary to my last OS that were all fluffy…

Usually, Jake likes the color red, especially on Amy.

It’s a shade that suits her well – the color of the dress she wore on their first date, he perfectly recalls, and God knows how  _gorgeous_  she looked in it.

(She always does.)

But right now, as his wet, puffy,  _red_  from crying too much, eyes try and scan the place in search of his girlfriend in the middle of the bustle, and all he can lie his gaze upon are the  _blinding red_  of the ambulance’s lights or the  _dark red_  of stains of blood on the road, he finds the color quite suffocating to watch, and almost sickening.

Obviously, with his job, it’s not the first time he’s called on the scene of an accident – it  _is_  the first time the injured civilian lying unconscious on the street is  _his oldest friend_ , though.

( _“Gina got hit by a bus,”_  Amy’s trembling voice said through the phone, asking,  _pleading_  him to hurry up there, needing him,  _needing_  his support, completely shaken up from the horror she just witnessed.

 _“She’s not breathing. She’s not breathing!”_  He could hear Charles panicking by her side in his conversation with 911 and in contrast to the woman’s lack of life getting out of her lungs, Amy’s own breathes became louder, quicker on the other end of the line.

Jake ran, the fastest he ever ran, the tears falling like water from his eyes with each new step he took until he stopped in front of the perimeter, already locked by officers and emergency doctors.)

When he finally spots her, Amy’s wrapped up in a blanket, sitting on the cold floor of the pavement with her arms curled around her knees, staring blankly into the distance, barely acknowledging the man in front of her trying to talk to her and calm her down, in shock. His heart misses a beat, hurting a little more in his chest at the sight of his girlfriend like this, but he tries his best to repress it all.

He removes the salty pearls from his cheeks with the back of his hand and lets out a deep sigh before joining her.

Usually, Jake likes the color red, especially on Amy.

It’s a shade that suits her well – except when said red color comes from their colleague’s blood and covers her hands, her blue shirt, and even some spots on her face and hair like it presently does, he notices first when he finally reaches her.

( _“Way to go, Char–…”_

_“GINA!”_

Gina’s body got thrown away a few meters with the impact of the huge bus against her back and, after one full, silent, dreadful second standing still in absolute shock, her friends left their spot and hurried up to her side, kneeling next to her, Amy’s hands working their way to cover the other woman’s bleeding wounds and stop the flow on pure instinct, unable to think straight otherwise.

 _“Stop staring and call 911!”_  she shouted at Charles to make him move and  _do something_ , taking out her own phone from her pocket.)

“Sir, please, I’m gonna have to ask you to step aside. This woman here needs space,” the doctor by Amy’s side brings Jake back from his own staring trance, preventing him from getting any closer to her with a wave of his arm.

“She’s my girlfriend!” His tone may be a little too harsh – after all, the other man isn’t supposed to know who he is, and all he wants, just like  _himself_ , is Amy’s well-being – but it’s hard for the detective to keep his calm under such conditions. One of his best friends is stuck between life and death while the woman he loves is clearly in a state of shock and on a verge of a panic attack.

If he can’t do anything about the first one’s state, he  _can_  and definitely  _will_  help the second by being here with her, and  _no one_  will stop him from doing so.

Thankfully, he doesn’t have to argue more, because when he lowers down in front of her to meet her level, Amy finally lets out her first word in a while, whispering his name, her eyes filling with tears as she buries herself into his open arms, sobbing against her boyfriend’s chest, letting go of every emotion she’s been feeling until then. And he tries, he really does, to stay strong, to be the shoulder she can cry on and needs so much right now, stroking her back gently with his palm spread wide over her blanket,  _up and down_ ,  _up and down_ , while pulling her the closest he can into his embrace, but hearing her,  _seeing_  her like this, only makes him cry along with her, hiding his head in the crook of her neck, wetting her long, raven hair in the process.

_They can’t lose Gina._

They must be quite the sight, wrapped up in each other, trying to fight the pain away by closing themselves off this cruel world and holding onto each other as if life depends on it, all alone in their corner now that the doctor went and left them be without them even noticing it, going to check on other possible traumatized passers-by while his coworkers still take care of the victim lying on the floor, taking all the precautions they need before moving her and bringing her to the nearest hospital.

They must be quite the sight, wrapped up in each other, but they don’t even care, because right now it’s the only thing keeping them from going crazy and preventing their depressing thoughts to suck them into the darkness, this reminder that they still have each other – will  _always_  have each other during those harsh times they have to go through.

_They can’t lose Gina._

While still hugging his girlfriend, Jake can hear Charles moan somewhere in his back, blaming himself for what happened. It breaks him a little more than he already is, tightening his grasp around Amy’s body at the sound of his weeping best friend, and he has to fight all of his better instincts not to stand up and take him in their embrace as well – Holt and Rosa are with him, he reminds himself, hearing them too tell him this is not his fault.

That’s  _their_  job – his is to take care of Amy presently, who needs him more than anything and anyone – and to be perfectly honest, he needs  _her_  and her only right now too.

None of them know how long they remain like this but after a while, their captain comes to them, putting a hand on Jake’s shoulder to make him look up, ending their moment.

“They are taking Gina to the hospital. Do you need a ride?”

“Thanks, but we’ll take my car. We’ll join you there,” Jake answers after one shared glance with Amy, who’s still trembling inside his arms, reading into them she’d rather be alone with him. Holt only nods in return without question before leaving the pair, taking Rosa and Charles with him – Terry’s already on his way.

“Hey.” Jake gently brushes his thumb over Amy’s cheek once it’s only the two of them again, attempting a shy smile at her while he puts his whole attention back on her and removes a tear from her face, along with a stain of still fresh blood. “She’s gonna be just fine, okay? It’s Gina – she’ll never agree on going like this, hit by a dumb bus. She’d be too ashamed.”

He tries to crack a joke, whispering reassuring words into her ear, and it seems to work for a moment as Amy lets out a small chuckle in response. The sound of it makes Jake’s smile turn a little brighter, and his chest hurt a little less.

He kisses her temple then, pulling her close again. “She’s gonna be just fine…” he repeats one last time – and he wants to believe it’s true.

Amy doesn’t say anything back right away, simply shuts her eyes as she lets herself melt into her boyfriend’s warm embrace. Until eventually, she opens them again, studying Jake’s face when she speaks again, a new glint shining in her wet gaze, voice hoarse and barely audible, her fingers intertwining with his, holding tight. “I love you so much.”

“Me too. I love you so much too.”

He presses his lips on hers this time, softly. Then, after another few seconds spent like this, he invites her to stand up with him, so that they can finally go to the hospital, where Gina and the rest of their squad are waiting for them. The drive there is spent in silence, and most of the time they remain in the waiting room as well, sharing short, worried glances and Jake’s knuckles pressing into Amy’s thigh in stress and impatience while she plays with her hair, unconsciously starting to braid some stains together.

That is, until a doctor comes in and tells them the news.

“Your friend’s alive.” And the whole room, filled with Gina’s friends and colleagues, lets out a relieved sigh at once.


	27. Kiss Me Too Fiercely, Hold Me Too Tight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy finally reunite after a massive heist/hostage situation. Post-5x22.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when I binge-watch La Casa de Papel… some angsty little thing haha.

Jake nervously watches as a crowd of terrified people hurries out of the building, his weary, panicked eyes scanning the scene in search of one particular face among them all.

There are members of different police departments all around him giving instructions to their peers through their walkies or asking for ambulances to get ready to take charge of this horde of newly freed hostages and a police line preventing him from getting any closer despite the badge around his neck, and he can feel the heavy atmosphere weighing in the air with whispered worries.

It doesn’t make sense, after five days of taking them prisoners, to let go of the  _one_  reason why no one tried to intervene in the middle of what had quickly become a new historical heist.  _Unless…_

Unless the robbers are finally going out, having achieved whatever they came to do here in the first place.

His heart is racing in his chest, to the point that he can hear it resonate in his ears as he sees more and more victims coming his way and less and less leaving the building, and there’s still no trace of  _her_. The fear starts building up – he doesn’t want to think about the worst, not  _yet_ , but still, he can’t retain the thought from lingering into his mind.

_What if they’re keeping her as leverage, to trade her in case something goes wrong with their escape, having no qualm in doing so knowing she’s a cop – even though, according to Gina, their assailants aren’t aware of that fact?_

Two whole days have passed since the woman went out herself. Forty-eight hours during which who knows what might have happened in that here of a place, especially if they learned  _she_  was the one who managed to help some hostages leave and only decided not to follow them to protect the remaining ones and maybe even find a way to take the criminals down from the inside – or at least make it easier for her colleagues to put an end to this insanity of a heist.

He loves how brave his wife is, and how much she takes her job at heart, and he’s  _so proud_  of her for making such a decision, but he has to admit, when he saw his friend and a few other strangers unexpectedly appear in the middle of the night, shouting  _not to shoot, they’re hostages_ , and he didn’t get a glimpse of  _her_ , he wished for a second there that he had married a coward who would have simply left without thinking despite being a Sergeant – even if off duty. But she isn’t – and, frankly, in most times, he loves her for it.

Now though, he just hopes he won’t have to relive this moment of learning she’s staying in again as  _everyone_  else seems to be getting out.

He tries to focus on Gina’s words about the situation, on how she told them they didn’t seem to want to hurt anyone – physically, that is. Because for sure most of the hostages will need some psychological assistance following such an event – it’s easy to read in the different pair of eyes his gaze meets as he’s looking for  _hers_  how traumatized these people seem to be from what they’ve been through.

(It’s better if he doesn’t think too much about what he’ll read in  _hers_  when he finally finds her.)

Unable to wait much longer, he stops the next person passing by him. “Excuse me, I’m looking for someone,” he calls them out, his voice hoarse and shaking a little. “A woman – dark hair, brown eyes? Amy Santiago–…” He pauses, hesitant, not really knowing if she’d give her full identity to these people, before he adds, “– Peralta.”

The person’s eyes, who looked confused at first, suddenly lit up at the mention of the name.

“Do you know her?”

“Amy? Of course I know her,” they answer as if it’s obvious they do. “She’s a heroine to us all inside, helping us not completely lose it in there. You must be Jake, right? I’d say you’re a lucky guy to have her, but she’s apparently just as lucky to have you.”

There’s a softness in the way they talk about his wife and  _him_ , as if she shared some stories about him –  _them_  together, even – during their time locked up together that, in another time, during a much less stressful situation, would have warmed Jake’s heart – but right now, as there’s still no trace of her anywhere, he can’t linger into that, another single thought going through his mind.

“Have you seen her?!”

The stranger turns around, pointing behind them. “She wanted to be the last one to get out – y’know, making sure nobody was left behind. I’m sure she’ll be out soon.” Despite it all, the person manages a small smile at him, which calms him down a little, thanking them for their help and showing them the way towards the ambulances before putting his whole attention back on the building in front of him.

He doesn’t know for how much longer he waits – probably,  _realistically_ , only a few seconds, barely a full minute. But for Jake, it feels like an eternity before  _she_  finally emerges from the exit door, an old lady by her side, helping her carefully go down the stairs and most likely telling her some encouraging words as he can see her lips move from afar and her hand gently stroke this woman’s back.

The feeling that overcomes him when he gets sight of her is indescribable, letting out a long, relieved sigh, as if he’s been holding his breath until then.

She doesn’t see him right away, too focused on helping that woman, despite the small glances she sometimes throws at all the people gathered in front of her, and it becomes almost impossible for Jake to stay behind like he has to, waiting for her to let go of this other hostage and rush towards her to  _feel_  her against him, both safe and whole again inside a warm embrace.

All he can do is watch in the meantime, studying her form and every move – she looks tired, and in need of a hot relaxing shower but, other than that, she thankfully doesn’t seem physically injured.

Eventually, she leaves the old lady to the good care of the medical personnel there, refusing to let them check her too, her eyes now scanning the place in the same way  _his_  did from the moment the first hostage got out. Contrary to him, though, she’s quick to notice him in the crowd, and even quicker to reach his side, meeting him halfway, his own legs having apparently decided to run towards her as well.

The second they’re facing each other, his hands come framing her face, his lips finding hers in a searing exchange. She holds onto him, her nails digging slightly in the skin of his back over his clothes.

“You’re alright?” he gently asks, stroking her hair when they part, putting a loose strand back behind her ear, his eyes scanning her every expression with seriousness.

She simply nods and hums in return before burying herself into his body, hiding her head in the crook of his neck, letting out a sigh as she wraps her arms around his neck to keep him close, and his own find their rightful place at her waist, pulling her tight too.

As he does so, Jake is reminded of another time and how Amy rushed into his arms and kissed him breathlessly when he found himself in a similar – yet so different still – situation, how worried she’d been about his life in just a few hours of being locked up. He remembers the words stuck in the back of his throat, later when they were curled up in bed, discussing with emotion the events of the night – how he didn’t want the first time acknowledging his feelings for her happening like that, with her possibly thinking they came out of fear of losing each other.

He doesn’t keep them in, this time.

“I love you so much,” he whispers in her ear, a single tear passing the barrier of his eye, finishing its course in her hair. “So,  _so_  much.” His grip around her back tightens a little with each new word he lets out. “More than anything.” He doesn’t care if he sounds corny – that’s the truth. There’s nothing in this world he loves more than Amy Santiago-Peralta, and nothing he will love more than her.

(Their children, when they have some, will come equal.)

She reluctantly draws away from his embrace, only to be able to watch him in the eyes as she speaks. “I love you more than anything too,” she says, a small smile shyly curling up the sides of her mouth that soon gets matched with one of his own. She knows this is not over, that statements and tracking the criminals down before it’s too late are awaiting her –  _them_  –, but she allows herself to get lost in the moment for a while.

_She deserves it,_  she thinks as she buries herself between her husband’s arms once more, her head against his chest, listening to the beating of his heart slowly going back to normal now that she’s by his side again, all safe and sound from what must have been the scariest, worst five days of her entire life. But, now, inside this embrace, she knows that she’ll be just fine – because she found her right person and with him, she can handle  _anything_.


	28. High School Throwbacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers 6x03, Jake and Amy go to Jake and Gina's high school reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this when it was only a speculation based on Melissa's Instagram stories, but now it's been confirmed and I just... can't wait for this episode, I'm sure it'll be absolutely awesome!!!

“Jake Peralta! Is that you?”

Jake and Amy barely have the time to enter the Detective’s ex-high school gymnasium that someone is already coming towards them, taking the man in question in a tight hug, apparently happy to see him.

She watches them from the side, a small amused smile curling up the corners of her mouth. She’s heard a lot of stories about her husband and Gina’s time in high school, and this even before she started dating him, the two friends often reminiscing about their younger years together in front of the squad. She’s seen pictures, too – still has the one she took the first time she visited Jake’s childhood house saved on her phone, laptop, and even the cloud.

This is, however, a whole new step she’s taking into Jake’s past, getting to actually  _meet_  with his old classmates. And it’s pretty exciting, she has to admit, finding herself in the middle of an already very packed room filled with people who used to know her husband when his path hadn’t crossed hers yet – when he was a teenager.

She remembers how, in a very original way, he told her about this 20-year high school reunion he’d been invited to and asked her to come with – how, through some elaborate plan, he made her meet him at the top of ‘their’ roof at 397 Barton Street, where she found herself face-to-face with a rather confusing sign and grinning husband.

_Amy Santiago, will you go to prom with me?_

But then he handed her the invite, and she laughed and shook her head when she finally understood what was happening, before she took a step closer and sweetly kissed him, his face framed between her hands gently stroking his cheeks. After all this time, he still managed to surprise her in the best of ways.

“Jake Peralta, I’d love to go to prom with you,” she whispered as she drew away, making his smile only grow wider.

“Actually,” Jake’s voice suddenly takes her out of her reverie when the two old friends eventually part from their embrace. “It’s Jake Peralta- _Santiago_  now.” He proudly corrects him, shooting a quick, knowing glance at Amy and curling her waist with his arm, inviting her to come closer to his side. “This is my wife, Amy.”

They’ve been married for months now, but still – hearing Jake introduce her as such to someone always never fails to create goosebumps in her stomach, the realization that she’s the luckiest person in the whole world for being this amazing man’s  _wife_  hitting her hard every time. It still feels like a dream, sometimes, and she’s not so sure she’ll ever get over the beauty of this fact, no matter the years passing by.

After the introductions and this new encounter letting her know that he’s a former classmate of Jake’s from senior year, the three of them head towards the bar, where the old friends update each other about their lives in front of a beer, having not seen each other for quite a long time. Quickly, more people come and join in the conversation, and small chatting groups start forming inside the gymnasium. Amy recognizes some of them, from pictures her husband showed her or stories he shared, or even having bumped into one or two at the mall.

Despite not being part of the school’s ex-students, she easily mingles, learning embarrassing recalls of Jake and Gina’s past, or asking questions about them, thoroughly taking notes to share everything with the rest of their squad later. It doesn’t seem to amuse her partner as much, though, that his old friends would dare to tell her all of these shameful stories (some he didn’t even remember) – but then he simply has to take a look at the woman’s glowing face every time she discovers something she didn’t know about him and the little loving glances she shoots at him to warm his heart and make him smile too. 

He knows it’s only gentle mockery, after all, and he doesn’t mind being a complete open book to his wife – she already knows his deepest secrets anyway.

Still, he can’t retain his sigh of relief when, once she’s downed her third drink of the night, she decides she gathered enough information and joins Gina on the dancefloor, bringing other new acquaintances with her to move to the rhythm of some of the most famous hits of their teenage days. Jake is quick to tag along when he’s finished his own beer, though regrets it the minute the song changes to another –  _I Want it That Way_ , from the Backstreet Boys.

He recognizes the melody right away, even before the first lyrics start playing, and he can tell Amy does too from the grin that suddenly lights up her features and the glance she gives him before putting her attention back on the rest of the group they’re forming with some of his former classmates. He tries to shush her before she can say anything, but she’s unstoppable.

This time, it’s  _her_  turn to share embarrassing stories about him.

“Jake sang along to this song with a bunch of criminals at work one day,” she explains, still dancing, even as she speaks. Her amused beam grows wider, remembering this scene he told her all about when it happened. “It was to identify a perp’s voice, but he got so caught up in the whole thing, he forgot about it.”

In that instant, Jake regrets sharing it with her, especially when she adds the part about how the sister of the victim had to remind him why he started this little singing group in the first place, and everyone around lets out gasped  _‘oh’_ s and laughs at him. He wants to defend himself, scratching the back of his neck in nervousness, feeling his cheeks burn, but his wife cuts him before he even has the chance to open his mouth and say something.

“I’m teasing him, but he’s an amazing Detective,” she’s surprisingly quick to add, watching him with a now very soft, though quite serious, smile. “Broke a lot of police records.” He can hear the pride in her voice, see the love in her eyes, and it instantly warms up his heart, forgetting the people around them for a second when he brings her close and meets her lips in a peck.

He has to admit, his life has turned out pretty great since he graduated from high school – and not only with his job. He’s got the most perfect woman by his side.

_His dream girl._

“I’m not as amazing as she is.”

They go on dancing and having fun with the others for a while, until Amy gets thirsty and they head to the bar to get new drinks, enjoying some alone moment. They barely have the time to finish their glasses that a quiet melody fills the room, encouraging couples to pair up and gather under the fading lights of the gymnasium in a romantic slow dance.

One glance is all it takes for Jake and Amy to understand each other and make their way through the crowd and find a place among the others. “You can’t be my prom date and not have at least one slow dance with me,” Jake teases as he wraps his arms around his wife’s waist and she does the same with hers around his neck.

They first move around in complete silence, matching their pace to the music and the other’s, Amy’s head resting on her man’s chest, both lost in their thoughts and warm embrace. That is at least until the Sergeant seems to get an idea, suddenly drawing a little away from her husband to watch him, a new mischievous glow shining in her dark eyes and a smirk curling up the corners of her mouth.

“What’s going on?” Jake chuckles at the sight of her, knowing her perfectly and thus knowing she has something on her mind.

“You know what we could do? Quietly sneak out of here and go make out like horny teenagers do.”

She suggestively wriggles her eyebrows, and it makes the Detective only laugh louder, taken aback by such a request – especially coming from  _her_.

“You, Amy Santiago, would willingly break a  _school_ ’s rule?!” He mocks her, but she remains serious, simply humming and nodding in return. He doesn’t need more convincing then, discreetly taking her out of the gymnasium and towards a dark, empty corridor away from the party. “This is where I used to take all of my girlfriends back in the day. A lot of nasty things happened here.”

He proudly grins, but Amy doesn’t seem to buy it, staring at him, waiting. She can tell when he’s lying.

“Okay,  _one_  girlfriend,” he admits, seeing the look she’s giving him. “But we made out like crazy.”

His wife frowns, sure he’s still exaggerating. Which is soon confirmed indeed, when Jake lets out a defeated sigh, sharing the whole  _true_  story.

“Okay, her hair got stuck in my ring nose, and we got caught up by one of our teachers. She dumped me the next day. Happy?”

Amy tries not to laugh at that, biting the inside of her mouth, a very funny image of a younger version of her husband forming inside her head. To put her attention on something else, and remembering why they’ve come here in the first place, she pins Jake against the nearest wall, pressing her body against him, her face only a few inches away from his, eyes locked together, the effects of 4-drink Amy coursing wild in her veins.

“Such a sad story,” she whispers in a seductive voice, tracing patterns on his chest with her finger, never leaving his sight. “I know how we can make up for it.”

Then, without a warning, she brushes her lips against his, gently at first, before she starts kissing him more fiercely, Jake’s arms hooking around her back to keep her close as he answers to her assault. If someone would have told his past-self that he somehow would end up, 20 years later, making out with the love of his life in his old high-school, he would have never believed them.

And yet here he is.

“What?”

When they finally part and Amy opens her eyes again, she’s met with her husband’s gaze lovingly watching her, a dreamful beam lighting up his face. It makes her smile softly, too.

“Nothing. I’m just thinking about how it would have been like, if we’d met in high school.”

“We would have competed all year long to know which one of us was the best student and you would have taken me to prom on the ‘worst date ever’ only to end up falling deeply in love with me forever,” Amy jokes, playing along, stroking her husband’s hair with her hand while always watching him as she speaks.

He laughs in return. “That sounds about right. I always knew I was smarter than you, so of course I’d have won such a bet too.”

“Only because I’d have been the best teacher during our previous years and helped you with your classes,” the woman retorts, and Jake sees no argument to make to that, so he chooses to simply kiss her again for only answer.

(In the end, just like horny teenagers in hiding, they  _do_  get caught up by one of the man’s former teachers, shamefully forced back to the gymnasium and unable to stop laughing at the silliness of what happened – at least though, this time their little sneaking out didn’t end up with killing anyone.)


	29. It Sucks a Little Less When I Get to Do It With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy comes backs to working in the bullpen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this tweet](https://twitter.com/Hajabeg/status/1046902366790807552). SPOILERS season 6.

Amy moves back up to her old bullpen on her first day back to work from Jake and her honeymoon.

It’s no news to her that things have been shaken up a little at the precinct during their time away, following Holt’s official election as a commissioner. She’s been told about it personally before she went on vacation, her squad being the main people concerned by these changes.

It is, however, something Jake’s not aware of.

She contemplated telling him several times for the past days, before she changed her mind and decided against it. It would be better if he discovers it all by himself, as a surprise, she thought.

“Ugh, is it too early to say that I already miss the beach?” The Detective lets out a sigh when they enter the building together, his hands full of bags, heading straight towards the elevator and back to their routine.

It makes Amy chuckle slightly. “No. I miss it too,” she admits as they get into the engine. “But I’m also happy to be back.”

“I’ll miss seeing your face all the time.” He childishly pouts, and the woman’s expression turns into a grin.

She doesn’t say anything, though, not to give any clue about what’s going on away, simply reaching for the buttons to start the elevator. But, as she pushes only one instead of the usual two of Jake’s and her different floors, it doesn’t get unnoticed. “You don’t want to stop at your floor and see your officers first before we give everyone their gifts?” he naively wonders.

“No, it’s okay, I can come down later,” she answers, her grin now mysterious, almost secret.

Jake watches her with a frown, curious – this really doesn’t sound like his wife. Still, he chooses not to argue, and soon their conversation falls back into talking about their honeymoon, playfully betting on how long Charles will be able to keep it to himself before pressing them into sharing  _everything_  about their holidays and ask probably inappropriate questions.

(Where they will eat for lunch and who will pay is quickly put at stakes.)

They’re still in the middle of debating about their friends’ reactions when the doors finally open, making Jake turn his attention from his wife to the people inside the room, going in with a determined pace and showing off his bags full of gifts as ways to make a big entrance. “I’m sure you all missed us  _terribly_ , but guess who’s back! And we brought g–…”

He’s cut mid-sentence when he realizes that the people he’s talking to aren’t who he thought they would be, some faces he’s not used to seeing – or at least not at this floor of the building.

Letting his gaze wander around the room in confusion, he notices some odder details to the scene: the bullpen doesn’t look like what he remembered, with several new desks added in.

It’s so unusual, it seems like they just stepped into a whole new place – even when he had to go away for several months in the past, he never came back to something so different as it is right now. And they left for only  _one week_ , this time. Even weirder, when he turns back towards Amy to gauge her reaction, she doesn’t seem as startled as he is by all of these changes.

On the contrary, she acts pretty casually, as if everything’s all the same, when it  _so clearly_  isn’t.

“You sure you pressed the right button?” He only manages to say, unable to think about another explanation to this.

The woman smiles in return. “Oh, I didn’t tell you? I’m moving back up to the bullpen with my whole squad,” she fake-innocently, fake-apologetically answers.

It takes a few seconds for the information to fully sink into her husband’s mind but when it does, his eyes instantly lit up.

“What? You’re moving back up?!” He repeats her words, in awe.

He’s probably being silly, reacting with such enthusiasm to as simple a news as this is supposed to be – after all, Amy never was too far away from him, and even if she were, they still saw each other enough, with being married and living in the same apartment – but he doesn’t care. He’s definitely thrilled.

Because for years prior to becoming his partner in life, she’s been his partner in  _crime_  first.

And, though he’s obviously the proudest of his amazing  _Sergeant_  wife, he’d be lying if he’d say he didn’t feel the smallest pang of pain in his heart when she traded her old desk facing his own for a new one downstairs a few months ago.

(He knows for a fact that  _she_  did too.)

“Mmmhmm.” Amy nods, her smile turning into a grin – she seems just as excited as he his about her move of bullpens. “My new desk’s right here.” She points towards one empty desk right in front of the holding cell and only a few inches away from  _his_ , where a plate with her name on it is already laid upon.

“This is amazing.” Jake looks at her with shining eyes and the same blissful expression she’s wearing on his face.

Then, they each join their own desk, rearranging some of their stuff while waiting for their friends to arrive, and exchanging a knowing glance once they’re all settled – it’s definitely the best view, being able to see their partner by simply looking up from their computer.  _Just like old times._

(Almost.)

“Oh my God. I missed this. Jake and Amy working in the same room again…” They’re suddenly interrupted in their silent conversation and forced to look away by Charles entering the bullpen, stopping in his tracks to let his eyes switch between his two friends with a huge dreamy smile upon his lips. Discreetly, behind his shoulder, the newlyweds exchange a slightly disgusted grimace.

It  _definitely_  is like old times.

“So, guys, how was the honeymoon?” He doesn’t waste any more second, pulling a chair and sitting next to his best friend. “I want to know  _everything_!”

“It was the best,” Jake is the one who answers him first, turning over towards Amy and sharing another knowing gaze, before dwelling more on the subject upon Charles’s request, reminiscing about what must have been the best week of his life indeed – a whole week spent with doing nothing else than loving his wife under the sun.

(Later that day, after all the presents have been given and while they’re all alone in the bullpen, Jake stands up from his desk and walks towards his partner’s.

“I have a gift for you too.” He explains when their eyes meet and she seems confused to see him here. She frowns when he hands her a package with a small smile upon his face, that soon turns into a softer expression when she opens it and sees what’s inside – two framed pictures; one of their wedding, the other taken during their honeymoon.

“Awww, you had them framed?!” Amy asks, touched by the thought, clearly not expecting it.

“Well, you’ve just been assigned a new desk, so I thought it could use a little decoration,” he tells her.

She grabs his hand over her desk, gently squeezing it in her own.

“Though you don’t really need pictures anymore, since now if you miss me, you just have to look up to see my face.” Jake jokes, and Amy agrees.

“That’s definitely a great advantage.”)


	30. Forever Started a Year Ago Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year after their engagement, Jake has a little surprise for Amy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by a post by @juliadorable on Tumblr: "jake’s engageversary gift for amy: THE SURVEILLANCE TAPE."
> 
> I know I'm one day early but I already had something written for tomorrow and got inspired to write this only today so... have it now haha!

“I can’t believe  _Hitchcock and Scully_  won the heist this year.”

Amy sighs as she gathers her things, getting ready to leave the precinct and head over to Shaw’s to celebrate the 2018 ‘Amazing Detectives/Geniuses.’

Sitting next to her on the desk, Jake lets out an amused chuckle. “Yeah, it was an even bigger twist than me proposing to you last year.”

He smiles dreamily at the framed picture of the both of them on their wedding day he’s been holding before putting it back where it belongs – right next to a selfie the couple took in what seems like forever now, before he and Rosa got wrongly accused of a crime and the both of them went to prison. So much has happened – and changed – in his life, since.

Like he’s a  _married_ _man_ , now.

“Speaking of…” His smile turns into a full happy grin. “We just passed midnight so happy engageversary, babe.” He leans over to press a quick kiss on her lips.

“Happy engageversary.”

Despite still being at work, Amy allows herself to rest her forehead against his for a few seconds after they part, their hands intertwined together. She can feel her heart warming up in her chest at the simple memory of what happened exactly one year prior to that moment. How she thought she’d won the heist again only to discover she’d won something even  _better_.

The promise of a lifetime with her soulmate.

Finally –  _reluctantly_  – they draw apart and she notices the change inside Jake’s eyes. They’re shining with a new mysterious glint, sign that he’s got something in mind.

“I want to show you something before we leave.” He quickly confirms her suspicions.

She frowns, curious, but doesn’t complain when he takes her hand and leads her around the precinct only to stop in front of Supply Closet F. Aka., Hitchcock and Scully’s (not so secret anymore) napping room.

“What are we doing here?” Amy asks, more confused than ever.

“Open the door.” Jake simply nods towards it. She obliges, ready to enter, though stops after taking a first step inside. She turns around with her eyes and mouth wide open in shock and interrogation.

“Surprise!” Jake’s grin grows wider in pride as Amy’s gaze sets back on the view in front of her. The small room has been entirely redecorated, a few lights bringing a nice intimate atmosphere to it. There’s a warm blanket laid on the couch next to an open laptop and chocolate cake and orange soda in the fridge ( _I would have brought champagne but y’know… we’re still at a police precinct_ _,_  Jake informs her when he shows them to her).

Surely, Amy wasn’t expecting something like that. Truth to be told, she even didn’t imagine they’d be celebrating their one-year engageversary tonight.

She assumed they’d be too focused on trying to win another heist to take a break for that. There  _is_  a little present waiting for Jake at home but she didn’t think they’d have the time to open it before the next morning.

“What’s all this for?” she asks again when she’s regained some composure and Jake made her sit on the couch with a can of orange soda and a plate of cake – the same flavor as the one they didn’t get the chance to eat on their wedding day thanks to Cheddar, he tells her.

“I told you. There’s something I want to show you.” He serves himself a slice of cake before taking a seat next to his wife, immediately cuddling against her side. He throws the blanket over their two bodies and puts the laptop on his lap – it’s already ready to be used, showing a paused video on its screen. Or, rather, a tape coming straight from the surveillance camera in the evidence locker.

The date on the top right corner writes  _17/10/31 11:58 pm_.

“How…?” Amy gasps when she reads it and immediately understands what’s going on –  _this is the recording of the moment Jake proposed to her._

She doesn’t have the time to say more, though, because the tape starts playing and her whole attention is then drawn onto what’s going on on the screen. She doesn’t want to miss one bit. She’s captivated despite having literally  _been there_  and thus knowing what’s about to happen. Her heart is already aching in anticipation and with the memory of the feelings that took over her that night.

Absentmindedly, she starts fidgeting with the rings on her left finger while reliving one of the best days of her entire existence through the camera’s lens. She can watch all of Jake and her reactions from this new angle, catch all the small details in the detective’s body language from the moment he entered the room that could have given his intentions away had she given it more thought at the time. She’s glad she didn’t. It made the moment even more surprising and overwhelming that way.

There are tears already shining in both the now husband and wife’s eyes when they finally reach the critical moment of the reveal of what’s  _truly_  written on the belt.

_Amy Santiago, will you marry m–…_

_Surprise!_

They’re falling freely along Amy’s cheeks as she hears Jake’s speech again – how he enumerated all the things he loves about her before popping the ultimate question.

_Amy Santiago, will you marry me?_

_Jake Peralta, I will marry you._

The happy sobs turn into laughter at Charles’s reaction to their engagement, from his fainting to the suffocating hug he pulled them in once he came back to life.

 _I’m so happy for you guys…_  He was barely able to talk.

The room fills with silence soon after that when the recording stops. Neither Jake nor Amy speaks for a while, lingering in the emotion these memories brought back.

“I still can’t believe all of what you’ve been through and all the plans you made just to propose to me that night.” Amy’s the one who finally puts an end to the quietness that fell upon the room, in pure awe.

Jake pulls her closer to his side and starts gently stroking her arm. “Well, I was going to ask the most amazing woman to marry me. Of course it had to be amazing.” He grins knowingly.

Amy turns around inside his embrace to face him. She puts a hand on his chest and breaks the barely existent distance between them to kiss him – something soft at first that soon turns into a more passionate exchange, with her husband’s hands sliding down her sides to end up on her hips. “I love you so much,” she whispers against his neck.

“I love you so much too.”

They remain like this for a while, taking advantage of their moment of intimacy after bustle that has been the whole day. Amy has her head lying against Jake’s chest until she looks up at him. There’s a curious question that has been stuck in the back of her mind since they came in the room that she eventually lets out. “How did you get Hitchcock and Scully to let you use their room?”

Jake straightens up in his seat. He seems a little embarrassed.

“I, huh–… I might have given them some intel about the heist in exchange for access to the room tonight…” He sheepishly lowers his head but Amy’s body shuddering against him with laugher quickly makes him look back up.

“So  _that_  is why they won tonight. I was wondering how they could have outsmarted all of us.”

“Don’t worry, babe. I’m the only one capable of outsmarting you.” Jake jokes – it owes him a small hit in the side.

“Wait until next year when I’ll win my title back and we’ll see who’s the smartest one in this marriage,” Amy answers, eyes shining in challenge.

It makes the detective laugh as he already takes his hand out of under the blanket and brings it to her. “Is that a bet?”

“It definitely is.” Amy shakes it with a grin.


	31. All I Want for Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy putting up the Christmas tree with her whole family at the Santiago house. Set during season 5.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually the canon/endgame-Peraltiago version of a drabble I wrote for my [Peraltiago Advent Calendar](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16803523/chapters/39440728) yesterday. I liked the idea and was kinda frustrated I couldn’t do more about it since it’s a fake-dating AU so I decided to redo it lol.
> 
> Don’t hesitate to check out the Advent Calendar if you want – I’m posting a new chapter of a ‘fake-dating at Christmas’ AU every day until Christmas :)

There’s a lot of things Jake still didn’t know and learns about the Santiago family while staying at their house for the Christmas holidays for the first time since he and Amy started dating. For instance, decorating a Christmas tree is a  _very_  important tradition for them – something that should not be messed with.

It’s still early in the morning when a knock on the door suddenly wakes them up on their first morning at the house. A small enthusiastic voice – one of Amy’s nephews – pleads them to go downstairs.

“We’re putting up the Christmas tree!” Mason chants as if to encourage them to hurry up.

Amy’s out of the bed in record-time and forces Jake to do the same despite his protesting grunts. She  _knows_  he’s not a morning person.

When they finally emerge from Amy’s old room and enter the living room, everyone is already gathered around the naked tree. It’s surrounded with boxes full of neatly labeled and perfectly organized Christmas ornaments. The Santiagos have been waiting for them – without wasting another second, special assignments are given as soon as the couple arrives. They don’t even have time to eat breakfast first.

Jake doesn’t complain, but his stomach does.

He simply obliges as he takes a first bauble out of its designated box, then repeats the process several times. From time to time, he shoots some glances at the people around him and how focused they all seem to be, taking their task really seriously. Their thoroughness makes him smile amusedly. Soon though, he’s stopped in his tracks by Amy – she appears out of nowhere.

He notices the judgmental and horrified look in her eyes when he turns to sneak a proud glance at her. The witty comment he was about to make gets stuck in his throat and his grin falters a little.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Putting up some baubles as requested.” Jake shrugs as he places another one onto the tree to accompany his words.

Amy shakes her head. She takes down the bauble.

“You’re not doing this right.” She replaces it a few inches away from where it initially laid. She then takes a step back to watch her work. A new satisfied smile appears on her softened features.

“How can’t I be?” Jake complains. He can’t see what she did that’s different – and supposedly better – than him.

“Look. You put two red baubles next to one another. It can’t work.” She points. It seems obvious to Amy but he still doesn’t understand the big deal about having two ornaments the same color side by side.

She never complained, during the previous Christmases they spent together or even with their own tree they put up together at home, about the way he decorated them. He doesn’t wait to tell her so.

“Well…” she trails off and averts her gaze. It makes Jake pause. “That’s because I always redid it whenever you wouldn’t watch.” She shamefully admits as she puts her eyes back on his. She smiles apologetically.

Jake opens his mouth at the confession but not a word gets out – he’s in shock.

“I’m sorry babe, you know I like things to be done thoroughly!” Amy tries to defend herself. It seems to work, because he ends up smiling at her – something fond and full of adoration.

“I know. I love you for that. And that’s why I’m gonna let you finish for me, huh? I don’t want your whole family to hate me because I messed up with the tree. Not when I’m finally getting along with your father.”

He hands her a bauble. She lets out a chuckle and softly pecks his lips. Her eyes are shining with a new glow when she draws away. “I love you too.”

Having nothing else to do, Jake goes sit on the couch next to the wife of one of Amy’s brothers. She seems to have been banned from the whole process too.

“Don’t take this personally.” The woman laughs when she hears him sigh. “They’re really serious about that whole ‘dressing-up the Christmas tree’ thing. If it can make you feel any better, Daniel and I have been married ten years and I’m still not allowed to touch the tree. Even my son reprimanded me one year.” She points towards the same little boy that woke Amy and him up earlier.

He watches as Mason is concentrated in adding a tinsel starting at the top of the tree with his father’s help.

Jake turns his gaze back on the woman with a smile. “Actually it does, thanks.”

Despite what he told Amy, he still felt a little bad about being left out on something that seems so important for her and her family.

After that, both of them fall silent for a while. They watch as the others meticulously decorate the tree. Jake’s gaze remains stuck on Amy – how focused she looks with a frown on her forehead and how her face seems to suddenly lit up every time she adds another ornament onto the tree. A dreamy grin quickly forms on his lips. She’s absolutely adorable – a sight he certainly doesn’t get tired of.

Good thing he’s going to spend the rest of his life with her then, as the small ring on her left-hand finger shining against the Christmas lights she’s now hanging proudly shows.

“So, excited about the wedding next year?” As if she was able to read his mind, a voice rising at his side takes him out of his contemplation and makes him start. When he looks back at Daniel’s wife, he sees her staring at him. His beam grows even bigger and brighter at the mention of  _the_  event of 2018 for him and his  _fiancée_.

“ _So_  excited,” he sincerely – and excitedly indeed – says. “I can’t wait to be Amy’s husband. She’s truly the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

The woman smiles at him knowingly. “Married life truly is the best.” She shoots a quick glance at her own husband and their child – it’s easy to read how much she cares for them inside her eyes.

Jake can only wish for a similar future for him and Amy as he does the same and turns his gaze towards her again. A future full of love and some ‘mini-them,’ celebrating together as a whole  _family_.

They keep talking about the upcoming wedding and everything the couple still needs to work on until the woman’s son suddenly approaches them. At first Jake thinks he’s coming for his mother but, to most of his surprise, it quickly appears that it’s not her he’s actually seeking. He’s got something in one of his hands and a sheepish look on his face as he watches the detective with big impressed eyes.

“Hi, buddy.” Jake tries to ease the palpable tension. He’s feeling just as uncomfortable as the little boy. Indeed, though he’s made some progress during the past few years, he still doesn’t know much about children or how to act around them.

The fact that everyone has stopped in what they were doing and now has their gazes stuck on the pair truly is of no help either.

Finally, without a word, the child takes another step and gives him what’s in his hand: a big decorative star that’s supposed to be the tree topper. Jake manages a smile through his confused frown as he thanks him then looks back at the boy’s mother, full of questions. What is he supposed to do with this?! He has no clue but he can tell from the woman’s grin and all the ‘aww’s rising around that it must be a big deal.

“It’s a family tradition.” Amy steps in to explain what’s going on. She’s fully beaming too. She puts a hand in her nephew’s dark hair and gently ruffles it.

“We don’t really know how far back it goes, but some great-great-grandparents came up with this idea so that there wouldn’t be any fight over who gets to hang up the star at the top of the tree. They said the youngest of the family gets to do it. And well you’re not the youngest but Mason did it last year already so since you’re the newest addition to the family, he wants you to do it this year.”

There’s some hint of emotion in her voice and a blissful glint in her eyes. His soon fill up with tears he has to fight back. He’s overwhelmed, his heart tightening in his chest at the sweet gesture and mention of him being part of this family. As he already told Victor at Thanksgiving, it’s something he’s always dreamed of.  _To be part of something._

(When he shoots the man a quick glance and is met with a knowing wink, he can’t help but suspect the idea might actually be his. A single tear rolls down his cheek. He quickly wipes it off.)

“Oh well, thank you buddy,” he says again and smiles sincerely as he lays his eyes back on the child. Mason only shyly smiles back at him before seeking comfort inside his mother’s arms and hides there.

Jake then doesn’t waste any more second – he stands up to put up the star.

“Wait.” Amy stops him as he’s about to place it on top of the tree. “You have to make a wish first. It’s part of the tradition.”

He only pauses for a second, his gaze stuck on her, piercing through her core. He doesn’t have to think too long to come up with something to wish for. When he’s done, he goes back next to his fiancée and the rest of her family. He wraps an arm around her waist and kisses her head as they all watch their final work.

As he looks at it with more attention, Jake has to admit the tree looks really beautiful, enlightened with fairy lights and decorated in matching red and white colors.

( _Now_  he understands why putting two red baubles too close to one another wouldn’t have worked.)

“What did you wish for?” Amy turns her gaze away from the tree after a short while to put it on Jake. She’s wearing a curious, yet amused beam on her face.

He lets out a chuckle as he shakes his head. “Uh-uh. Can’t tell. Otherwise it won’t come true.” He mysteriously tells her, teasing her. Amy tries to argue but for only answer, he kisses her pout away.

(It’s only one year later that he tells her. He’s sure that he came true now, as he watches her decorate their Christmas tree in her pajama pants and a slight bump starting to show off her top.

“I wished for a kid of our own,” he says while he walks towards her to wrap his arms around her from behind and kiss her neck, softly skimming her belly with his thumbs.)


	32. I Stare at my Reflection (And it's You and Me I See)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy try to take a picture of themselves during the celebratory night of their engagement at Shaw’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few days/weeks (?) ago I asked for fluffly Peraltiago prompts on Tumblr and someone sent me this: “one night the squad is at shaw’s and amy is slightly buzzed and asks jake to take a pic of her doing something and she keeps laughing in the pics so they come out blurry and jake falls in love”
> 
> This is not exactly what they asked for and completely random but that’s what came out when I started writing it haha. I just love that picture of Amy showing off her ring that we see in 5x10 so it inspired me this :’)

“I got it. I got it.”

“You sure, babe? You already said that the last three times.”

Jake teases but Amy doesn’t pay attention to his comment. She doesn’t even bother to answer him. Instead, she keeps her eyes focused on the phone in her hand and their reflection in the camera. Jake amusedly shakes his head as he watches her do – how she tries her best to keep the thumb that’s hovering over the button steady and the way she frowns in full concentration.

A dreamy smile forms upon his own face. This is his  _future wife_ he’s looking at.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

Amy’s confident voice takes him out of his contemplation as she scoots closer to him – so close that she bumps her shoulder against him and presses her head against his, completely invading his personal space. Jake doesn’t even have the time to turn his head back to the camera that a thump followed with a curse and a burst of laughter startles him. She let _his_  phone fall on the table.

“Okay. Let me do this.” He grabs the device before she can, letting out a small chuckle himself. “Drunken Amy clearly turned clumsy tonight.”

Amy pouts in disappointment but he chases it away with a quick kiss. It immediately brings back some light on her face.

They’ve been at it for a good  _five minutes_ now – trying to take a good engagement picture, an idea the slightly drunk woman got to break the news to their families. But what should have been a simple task soon turned into a real challenge with Amy being incapable of seating still. She ended up blurry in all the shots they already took.

She couldn’t help but turn her head towards Jake at the last minute every time, watching him dreamily and giggling blissfully with her gaze stuck on him.

_(“What?” Jake asked when he looked back at her the first time and saw the glint in her shining eyes, the same fond beam lighting up his own features._

“ _We’re engaged!” she exclaimed and he laughed along with her, the simple thought of it making him giddy.)_

In hindsight, they probably should have waited until they’re home and sober to do it.

(Should have waited until the excitement of the proposal has drained off their bodies a little as well.)

Jake brings the phone back in front of their faces after grabbing it. He pauses for a beat, staring at their reflection inside the screen. His arm is circling her shoulders to keep her close and her head is comfortably settled in the crook of his neck, leaning even closer against his side. She’s smiling; the sight of the two of them in front of him makes his heart jump in happiness in his chest.

This is quite a simple image of a couple in love, but it’s an image he’ll get to see for the rest of his life – an image of what their future is going to look like. The two of them together as one, forever and always.

“Ready?” He forces his eyes away from their reflection to truly look at her, softly pressing his lips on the top of her head as he does so. She nods in return and her smile broadens into a grin.

Seeing as Amy doesn’t seem willing to move from her comfortable spot this time, Jake is about to click on the button when she buries her face into his neck without a warning. She kisses him there before she lets out another giggle. Of course he misses his shot, startled by the unexpected (good) feeling of Amy’s lips against his skin and the shivers her laughter sends down his spine.

She mocks as she eventually looks up to watch the picture – it’s just as blurry as the previous ones.

“See? You’re just as bad at this!” She shoots him a victorious grin.

“It would have been a good one if you didn’t try to distract me!” Jake wants to defend himself with a pout but it doesn’t seem to work on his fiancée.

He can’t act mad for too long, then – not when Amy is looking at him with literal stars shining inside her eyes and her laughter is once again filling the air, rising above the other patrons’ drunken conversations.  _He makes me laugh,_ the words from a previous night, a night where some made-up persona had also supposedly just proposed to the character she herself played strikes back into his mind. The reason she said why he was  _the one_  – the genuine confession that crossed the line between a fantasy world and  _reality_  and made him kiss her, for the first time as Jake himself, back in the evidence locker later that evening. The same place he proposed to Amy a few hours ago.

_For realz_  this time.

Jake swears he’s falling a little bit more in love with her as he watches her in awe. She keeps laughing and laughing and all he can think about is that this brilliant, amazing, wonderful woman just agreed to  _marry him_.

He must be the luckiest person on Earth for having someone like her to spend the rest of his life with. His best friend and soulmate. His partner in everything.

“I love you so much,” Jake lets out the words that have been going on on a loop in his mind in a whisper. It makes Amy suddenly stop and stare back at him – a fond smile spreads on her features at the words.

“I love you so much too,” she doesn’t wait to repeat. She leans over and softly presses her lips against his, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’m so glad we’re getting married.”

“Me too.”

(In the end, they agree to forget about the picture for now and simply enjoy their night of celebrations. It’s only on the next day that they immortalize the event, in the intimacy of their apartment and with clearer minds. They’re both grinning widely at the camera as Jake takes the picture on the first try, with their faces glowing as brightly as the small ring on Amy’s finger she so proudly shows off in front of the small screen.)

(It immediately becomes each other’s contact image in their respective phones.)


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt sent on Tumblr: “early in their relationship, one of them gets minor injuries like a twisted ankle or something while chasing a perp and the other takes care of them :)”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little question: should I start a new collection when season 6 starts to post my fics there since this one is getting pretty long and we’re starting a new season or should I keep posting everything here no matter how many chapters this already has?

“You sure your head doesn’t hurt?”

“Jake, for the umpteenth time, I’m _fine_.”

“What? I’m just checking on you like the doctors said.”

Amy lets out a desperate sigh when her boyfriend comes back from the kitchen with a glass of water and asks her for what seems like the millionth time this day if she’s feeling alright. He sits back on the couch next to her and stares deep into her eyes, in search of any possible sign that she might not be despite her words. He hasn’t left her side – and _sight_ – for more than a minute since they left the hospital earlier that day and came back to her apartment.

She fell down a few stairs head first while chasing a perp during a case and though she somehow managed not to get any physical injury other than a sore shoulder, she still frightened the hell out of Jake.

“I know it hasn’t been that long but for a moment you literally _forgot_ we were together, babe. I was terrified I would have to go through the process of asking you out again!” he reminds her with a pout and his expression makes her snort.

“I don’t remember you ever asking me out. It was more like you straight up kissing me.” She looks at him with a knowing smile and his face instantly softens with relief at hearing her sharing this story of how their relationship began. At her simply _remembering_ they’re in a relationship. She snuggles against his side and shares the blanket he wrapped her in earlier with him.

“Was a pretty successful move, though,” he proudly answers as he puts his arm around her shoulders to keep her even closer to his body and kisses her temple to emphasize his point. That’s what led them to where they are right now, after all. (Though Amy would usually argue _she_ is the one who made it all possible by letting her guard down and deciding to tell the truth when asked why they thought they were “the one” during their undercover mission that night.

“ _He makes me laugh.”_ )

She lets her head fall on the crook of his neck.

“Anyways, it’s not like I could forget about you even if I wanted to. You’re too annoying.”

She glances up at him to gauge his reaction – a frown forms on her face when she sees he’s staring at her with a beam and glowing eyes. She draws away from him a little to be able to better watch him.

“Why are you smiling? This was supposed to be a burn!” It’s her time to pout, clearly disappointed.

Jake’s smile only grows wider. “You said you couldn’t forget about me.” She can hear the happiness this statement makes him feel in his voice.

“Shut up.” Amy playfully shakes her head though can’t retain her own features from lighting up as well. She truly likes this goofy idiot. A little bit more every day. Of course she couldn’t forget about him. He’s been such a huge part of her life for so long now – long before they actually started dating even, as a colleague then (best) friend.

She takes her place back against him and they remain silent for a while, curled up together and watching as _Property Brothers_ is playing on the television. It quickly became their routine to spend the night together ever since their first date those few weeks ago. (Now that her memory is fully back, she still remembers vividly the heated kisses and scattered clothes on the floor as they passed the door to Jake’s apartment.)

(Tonight is much calmer, though – tonight she needs to rest after the scary, but eventually not so serious injury her brain endured.)

As she tries to focus on the show, Amy can feel Jake’s gaze lingering on her form from time to time, probably to make sure she’s really doing fine. She’s been teasing him but she can’t imagine what he’s been through – what it’s been like to have his girlfriend jerk off his embrace and watch him with big shocked eyes when he hurried towards her and called her ‘babe.’

( _“You alright, babe?”_

 _“‘Babe?!’ What the hell, Peralta! I’m not your ‘babe.’ And where are we?!”_ )

(It surely was terrifying for _her_ , to be told things she couldn’t remember at the time. Thankfully, it didn’t last too long.)

She can sense then, after a while spent without a word, that Jake’s about to ask her the question again before he even opens his mouth. She turns to meet his gaze and catches him as he’s staring at her. She offers him a sweet smile when she spots the concerned frown on his face. “Seriously, babe. I’m feeling much better. I promise.”

She brings a hand to his cheek and leaves it there as he leans against her touch.

“Really? You’d tell me if you need anything, right?”

“Of course.” She nods then presses a soft kiss on his lips, her forehead resting against his with her eyes closed for a beat after they part. She can feel her heart starting to race faster in her chest and a smile forming on her face at the thought of her boyfriend worrying about her and wanting to take care of her. It’s still new, but this relationship already matters so much to her – _he_ matters so much.

And she wouldn’t go back to that time when they were ‘just colleagues’ for nothing in the world – even a brain injury couldn’t take this away for too long.


	34. It's a Love Story (Baby Just Say Yes)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5x04 Canon-divergence: Jake didn’t manage to get out of his cuffs during the heist and so couldn’t propose to Amy in the evidence lockup. Thankfully, he has a backup plan in case things turned out this way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk why I wrote this because I absolutely adore the proposal and wouldn’t have it any other way but… I guess this is somehow inspired by Jim’s line in The Office when he says “The boat was actually plan C, the church was plan B and plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago.”

“You alright there, babe?”

While everyone else is already scattering around Shaw’s after the 2017 Amazing Human/Genius has been crowned, Jake is still at the counter of the bar when Amy approaches him. The touch of her hand gently stroking his arm takes him out of his reverie. He looks up from his beer and his face instantly lits up when he meets her eyes despite his broody mood.

Indeed, he can’t take his mind away from the fact that  _she_  is the one who should have won the heist this year. It was all part of his plan – a plan he worked on for  _months_  before tonight and what literally kept him going during his time spent in jail.  _She_  was supposed to win – or at least  _think_  she’d won – so that he could propose to the love of his life right where they shared their first kiss (well, as Jake and Amy, that is).

If Charles didn’t betray him and cuff him…

He tried to get off them, tried to bribe Fake Charles into helping him, but in vain. It was too late when he finally freed himself.

Rosa had already won, outsmarting the rest of the Tramps (and their boss and  _Amy_ ) after she figured out Holt had stolen the belt from them.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jake offers her a true, reassuring smile. Ever since he’s been back from prison she’s been extra careful with him and how he might be feeling. He’s getting a lot better day after new day of freedom but sometimes he still can’t retain his mind from taking him back to moments and places he’d rather forget – and she knows that.

She  _witnessed_  that.

He’s been certain for a while now that Amy’s  _the one_  for him (decided on the exact date of April 28th, 2017 that he was going to act on it and actually ask her to marry him) but how she’s been there for him like no one else in such a dark time and the way he missed her during those eight weeks apart only made his feelings even clearer. He simply can’t imagine a life in which she isn’t part of.

“Seems like we’ve both been outsmarted tonight, huh?” Amy lies against the counter, making herself comfortable as she takes a sip of her own beverage and watches from afar Rosa proudly showing off her prize.

Jake keeps his eyes on his girlfriend (who could have become his  _fiancée_  by now), on the hand that’s holding her beer and the absence of ring where there presently could have been one, would his plan haven’t gone wrong and would have she said yes to his proposal. He can feel the little box still weighing on his pocket and waiting to be taken out. Thankfully for him, the night isn’t over and he has a backup plan.

“Can we go? There’s somewhere I’d like to take you before we head home.”

“Where?” Amy frowns as she focuses her attention back on him. “It’s past midnight.”

“It’s a surprise.” Jake offers her a mysterious grin. She studies his face for a moment before she obliges, following him out of the bar after they told everyone goodnight.

“Seriously Jake, where are you taking me? Did I actually offend you when I said you couldn’t surprise me anymore? Is this why you’re doing this, to prove me I’m wrong? Because it was a joke, y’know.” Amy starts rambling after a while riding in silence. It makes her boyfriend chuckle slightly and he turns around for a second to watch her. He takes one of his hands away from the wheel and lets it rest on her tight.

“I know you were. We’re almost there. It’ll be worth it, I promise.”

Or at least he hopes so. He knows she loves him deeply (she proved it so a dozen of times in the past few weeks only) and there’s realistically no reason she would say no (he’s right in the laps of time she gave herself to get married in the life calendar that’s hanging in their bedroom) but still, Jake can’t help but feel nervous. It’s a huge step in their relationship they’re about to take after all.

And he wants to do it right. She deserves the best. Because she  _is_  the best person he knows.

“Okay…” Amy’s not-so-convinced voice takes him back to reality.

They drive for a few more miles until Jake eventually parks in front of a building they both know well. Her frown gets deeper when she recognizes it as he urges to her side to open the door to her and she gets out of the car, looking up. Her gaze switches from the building then back to his face.

“Why are we here?” She sounds suspicious.

And she can be: there’s not much to see in here. At least to common eyes – because to them, this is where it all started.

Where they came  _the night you flirted with me for 20 seconds and I became obsessed with you forever_ , as Jake confessed to Amy only a few months earlier when she freaked out about her sergeant exam and suddenly disappeared. Their rooftop is just as good a place where to propose as the evidence lockup back at the precinct would have been.

It’s still full of history –  _their_  history. Hence it being his backup plan.

“Shall we?” Jake refuses to answer her question. He offers her his arm instead with his mysterious smile back on his face. It seems to be catching because despite a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes (mostly for form), Amy can’t help but smile back as she hooks her arm with his and lets him guide her inside the building. It’s only when they reach the door to the rooftop that he draws away from her.

He takes a step back and points towards the closed door. “After you.”

His voice is a little hoarse now and his goofy expression has turned more serious all of a sudden as he can feel a rush of nervousness running down his spine.

As he realizes that  _this is it._  The moment of truth. Behind that door lies his future – a future with Amy forever by his side, he sure hopes.

She seems a little hesitant at first but a smile and a nudge from Jake as she stares at him are all it takes for her to eventually obliges. He doesn’t follow her right away – lets her take a few steps ahead before he gets out as well. He watches her looking around at the romantic scene he came to set earlier in the day just in case he’d need it, right where they both sat three years and a half ago during their first date.

_Nut?_

_Only if you throw it!_

Right where they stood together at a turning point of Amy’s career.

_What if everything changes between us? Things are so good right now._

_Yeah, things might change a little, but for the better, right?_

Right where he now gets on one knee before she can turn around.

“What the–…” The words get stuck at the back of her throat when she meets his eyes and he grins at her. His heart is pounding in his chest but it’s not out of stress anymore. It’s out of love for this wonderful woman who’s staring at him with puzzlement in her eyes (it seems like he managed to keep his secret perfectly and she didn’t see anything coming).

It’s out of excitement to finally be able to pop the question after months of planning it.

“Surprise.” His smile grows bigger.

Amy still needs more confirmation that this is  _truly happening_  before Jake can start a speech about all the things he loves about her, telling her how amazing she is. He didn’t write it down nor rehearsed it beforehand, and maybe he should have, but not once does he have to pause and think about what to tell her – he just has to look at her for the words to come out naturally.

To think that not so long ago, he was very uncomfortable with emotions… He’s now literally pouring his whole heart out with his love towards her.

“Amy Santiago,” he finally ends his heartfelt monologue with the most important question he’s ever gonna ask someone. “Will you marry me?”

He doesn’t have to wait long for the answer he’s dreamed to hear to come, his gaze lost into Amy’s – her eyes are wet from tears of joy and he can feel salty pearls prickling his own too.

“Jake Peralta, I will marry you.”

He can’t retain the small sigh of relief he lets out as he stands up and slides the small ring on his now  _fiancée_ ’s left finger. They look at it for a while; how it shines against her skin in the moonlight before Amy eventually pulls him into a kiss, framing his face with both her hands while he hooks his on her back to keep her close.

“I love you so much,” she whispers when they part and Jake never wants this moment to end. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so happy in his entire life – all thanks to the thought that he’ll soon be Amy’s husband.

All thanks to a promise of  _forever_.

“I love you so much too,” he’s quick to answer.

(It’s only later, when they’re back in the comfort of their room and curled up in bed, catching their breaths after an intimate celebration of their engagement that he tells her the whole truth.

“This was actually plan C, y’know.” Amy frowns as she looks up at him while her hand is drawing random patterns on his bare chest. “The way I proposed to you on our rooftop. I had another belt made with the inscription ‘Amy Santiago, will you marry me?’ on it that you were supposed to find at midnight thinking you won the heist.”

“And what was plan A?” She stops in her movements and sits up to better look at his face. He brings a hand to her face and replaces a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling broadly as he answers her.

“Propose to you months ago,” he says it in the most natural ways, as if it were obvious.

Amy’s face softens immediately at the words and she leans over to press her lips against his in a kiss as a response. She keeps her eyes on him when they part, both smiling lovingly at each other.

“I can’t wait to marry you,” she whispers before she goes back to her previous position cuddling against his side – something she’ll get to do for the rest of her life, as the ring on her left finger proudly states.)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always really appreciated!! You can also come and find me on Tumblr @b99peraltiago if you want :)
> 
> This collection is now closed. Go check out my new one, [My Brilliant Wife](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17500235/chapters/41220761), for more Peraltiago stories! Thank you to everyone who left kudos and comments on here – it really means a lot and definitely helped me stay so inspired to write for these two <3


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